Bad Education

I am a lover of comedy and always searching for new programs to enjoy. The channel BBC 3 has recently provided some excellent viewing choices. Currently I have been watching Bad Education, which is co-written by Jack Whitehall, who also plays the main character. Whitehall who has been finding his feet in the media industry over the past few years, seems now to have found the correct platform to shine on television. After his previous attempts at stand up comedy and presenting, which were fairly successful, he now seems to have a very promising career in acting. Whitehall’s performance in Channel 4’s Fresh Meat was the success needed to promote him to the leading role in Bad Education. In this program he plays a posh student who is moving in to university house share with people from very different backgrounds. It has to be mentioned that Whitehall who in his own life is from a privileged background, seems to be able to poke fun at that posh boy image very successfully.

The shows simple plot is based around a school, a class of students, their teacher and his colleagues. Whitehall’s character is a 23 year old teacher, Alfie Wickers, who is posh public school boy, who is in many ways is a fish out of water in his surroundings. Even though he has a very different background to his under-class students, he seems to have a positive relationship with them. The secondary characters in the show are a headmaster (Matthew Horne) who is outrageously attempting to be the blackest white man in the school. Wickers has a love interest, Rosie Gulliver (Sarah Solemani) who is a teacher he works with, unfortunately for Wickers the interest is not reciprocated. Then there is the deputy head, Isobell Pickwell (Michelle Gomez), a harsh overbearing character who is Wickers’ nemesis. This odd collection of characters really combines well to create funny storylines and humorous punch lines. Of course we must not forget the kids, as quite frankly they do make the show. The main student characters consist of a boy called Joe, who is best friend is probably Mr Wickers. There is a provocative girl, Chantelle Parsons, who constantly flirts with Whitehall’s character. There is a Chinese girl called Jing Chow, who gets the brunt of Wickers slightly racist jokes. The last secondary character of note is the school bully, Frank Grayson, who even Wickers is scared of. These students know Mr Wickers is not the best teacher, however they all know if he was not there they would have do more school work. This is the basis for the unlikely coalition, which allows for abnormal mutual understanding.

 

This is not a subtle comedy, the comedy is in your face, but is a well written show and the characters are evidence of this. Within the plots it discusses disability, race, sexuality, and bullying. I am not suggesting that the show offer helpful advice to solve such problems however it is honest and contemporary. This is a funny show, which fans of the inbetweeners, and fresh meat will enjoy. It is good to see that British comedy can still produce new well thought out comedy!