My old school-BBC, The story of a 32 year old who pretended to be 16 and went back to school

[DIceDaisy]

Wow, what a bizarre true story.
A 32 year old creates a fake identity to go to school in Glasgow alongside 16 year olds and seemingly fools everyone.
This is a documentary but very entertaining.
Definitely one of the best things I've watched this year.

I can't get over the fact that he went back to the same school that he had attended as a teenager and was even taught by some of the same teachers.

I literally have recurring nightmares about this

Why the fuck would anyone want to do that?

That was so good! I was open mouthed when they casually dropped in he had a car. In 5th year!
I can't believe he got away with it for so long.

I found it very moving. Especially the story of the lad who’d experienced racism, who was helped by ‘Brandon’. He still won’t say a bad word about him.

The kiss was very wrong, though.

I saw the film, remember when he was found out and the tv coverage at the time.

Does in a way show how much safeguarding and processes have changed in just under 30 years. The bizarre thing of being in a class with someone who has exactly the same real name as well.

Reminds me of that Drew Barrymore film Never Been Kissed.
I'll have to watch the documentary.

it was fascinating
and the poor girl who was in the play with him

He made my flesh crawl then and even more so now. And the guy that plays him. Haha grown man pretends to be teenager . 🤢

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Old_School_(2022_film)

There’s going to be a film coming out based on this, with Alan Cumming in it!

Oops just realised that maybe this film is the documentary you’re referring to? I thought the film was a dramatisation. But now I think they’re the same thing! With some dramatised scenes and some documentary?

Sounds like 21Jump Street

Is this somewhere I can watch now?

Ach, sorry, it’s on iplayer isn’t it!

I am 24 and have often fantasised about going into a secondary school and pretending to be a 15/16 year old again

Obviously nothing malicious behind it for me! I had to leave school at 16 beginning of Year 11 because of severe illness. I wish I could go back (I know I cannot!)

l remember this at the time. Brian Mackinnon is a similar age to me and at that point l had two young children and another on the way. I was baffled then and now by the thought of any adult wanting to go back to school. My daughter and I watched this film tonight and were both very moved by it, in particular the kindness and sympathy of most of his former classmates. He must have had profound psychological problems to even contemplate doing this and, while the rest of the class seem to have been successful in their subsequent lives, he would appear to have drifted in his own life. Very sad.

It was entertaining and I wonder how he got away with it. It showed a complete lack of judgement on his part, a terrible mistake from which he'll probably never recover.

I watched this when it came out in the cinema earlier this year.
I really enjoyed it and was fascinated by it.
The guy still believes he can get into medical school!
I didnt realise it was on tbe iplayer. I'll tell my friends to watch it.

I fantasise about this too sometimes, but going back with full knowledge and accoutrements of the 2020s. Amazing them with my (elderly) smart phone - OK, it wouldn't work as a phone in the mid-1980s but it would look astounding.

If I could just imbue my life experience and knowledge into my 16/17/18 yo self, I'd be satisfied! But no, I don't wish to actually revisit those years.

This makes me think of the film Never Been Kissed, where Drew Barrymore plays a reporter who goes undercover at a high school!

I often think they should do a show where people who have been down on their luck return to a school setting for a year. (The producers would have to pay for their bills whilst they attend)

But the school is just filled with the adults on the show.

It could explore their childhood and how they fell off the path. Then show emotional scenes of them regaining their passion for learning and starting a new fresh life.

Originally a much younger Alan cumming was meant to be playing him in a film about his experience not long after it happened but it was cancelled, so I think having cumming play him now is a nod to that. Also Cummings wasnt playing a teenager he was the actor lip synching to Mackinnons adult recorded voice. They’re probably of a similar age now.

his peers were very forgiving and came across really well

CookieMoolier · Yesterday 19:35

He made my flesh crawl then and even more so now. And the guy that plays him. Haha grown man pretends to be teenager . 🤢

Originally a much younger Alan cumming was meant to be playing him in a film about his experience not long after it happened but it was cancelled, so I think having cumming play him now is a nod to that. Also Cummings wasnt playing a teenager he was the actor lip synching to Mackinnons adult recorded voice. They’re probably of a similar age now
Excatly, I thought it worked well and was a good solution as MacKinnon didn't want to show his face but we still got to hear his story.

I thought that Alan Cumming was amazing in this. He was lip synching and was so understated and believable. I found the end of this film very moving - all of these people with their rich adult lives - and Brian/ Brendon apparently stuck inside this increasingly bizarre fantasy of going to study medicine on the back of a promise to his dying father.