Boarders

[Leafbuds]

Did anyone watch this? It was BBC3 last night and for the next several Wednesdays, or you can also stream on iPlayer. I watched the first one last night and then a couple of them on iPlayer.

It's about a group of black sixth formers who are given scholarships to a posh Eton-like school as a way of restoring the school's reputation after a bad incident made the papers.

It's comedy/satire, and quite funny in places, but some of the caricatures - especially the teachers - are a bit too ridiculous.

I don't think some of it is very realistic (or meant to be), but other bits, like the ubiquity of videos and social media, really shows how difficult it is to manage that side of things in today's world. I'm glad that wasn't a thing when I was a teen.

I find the sound very mumbly and it's really hard to tell what is being said at times (by most of the characters).

Tuesdays, I mean, not Wednesdays

I have pretty much finished it and enjoyed it.

Which aspects did you find unrealistic?

Don’t think I’d be able to watch this.

As a real life Black person (with two generations of independent schooling in the UK) we have actively avoided fee paying schools that sought to exploit the admission of Black pupils as a way to fix their optics. Everything I’ve read about this show suggests I’d find it excruciating.

Would I?

I thought some of the teachers and situations a little too exaggerated although I know it was satire; maybe I was also surprised at the level of alcohol/sex/drugs in the boarding school environment - I know it goes on but I thought there would be slightly more restrictions actually on school premises. I have little experience of what boarding schools are like though, especially the super-posh ones, so I imagine it's just me being naive.

You might find it excruciating to watch, yes, because it shows the blatant racism but at the same time, it's very clear that the students have been selected precisely to try to fix the optics rather than because the school is honestly trying to be more diverse, and that it is exploiting them; the satire is kind of around that, and it's not shown as a good thing to do.

I thought this was awful.
Full of stereotypes just for the lols.
Huge numbers of black kids from overseas at our local fancy public school.

I wondered how realistic it was, there are lots of drugs at schools like that, put me off sending my kids to boarding school

I almost started a thread on this myself but thought I might be shot down.
Independents near us have many more black and global majority children than any of the local mainstream schools. The ethos is of supporting each other no matter what differences there are. They have a lot of full bursary kids who are treated just like everyone else. The drug problems are almost non existent.

You would certainly find it excruciating if you have any experience of decent private schools.

I've watched the rest of it now too. It's definitely satire of the schools rather than showing what many schools are actually like, although I wonder about some of the v posh schools as I'm sure elements of this do go on. I'm surprised Clifton College or whatever it's called where it was filmed was happy to allow it, as the portrayal of the school in the show was so bad, and it would be easy for people to assume that it was an accurate reflection of that school! But lots of exaggeration to make a point and to satirise the idea of exploiting scholarship students to make a school look better. I do hope that even the v posh schools aren't actually like that, not just the amount of drugs, but the amount of sex and just the casual attitudes to it surprised me, but then I was very sheltered as a teenager and maybe that's all normal.

Not sure if I'd watch a second series or not.

I'm really enjoying this. I think it's cleverly done. Some genuinely funny bits, good acting and I think some very realistic bits. I think it is worth a watch. It is obviously not indicative of all (or even many) fee paying schools but there are some interesting social themes in there if you can suspend your disbelief.

I binged it and hope there is a series two. I watched it as a comedy.

Yes. Watched the first 30 mins and had to switch off.

Alcohol, sex and drugs will get you suspended or expelled. Source: 37 years working in boarding schools.

Just finished this series today.

I thought the first couple of episodes were OK, but as the series went on I struggled with it. Didn't really enjoy it.

I stuck with it as I thought the first 2 episodes were OK.

Although 3 and 4 were a bit 'meh,' there were only 2 left after that, so I thought I would stick with it as there were only 6 episodes altogether. If there had been 10 or more, I would have bailed after episode 4.

If there is a series 2 I won't be watching.

Watched a couple of episodes today. Had to turn it off after that.. clumsy, patronising nonsense and also blind to intersectional privilege.

This is my favourite tv series so far this year.

Honestly loved it - the performances were great, and really beautifully written dialogue. I hope it ends up in some of the best tv of 2024 lists. It really deserves to IMO.