Teachers - Series 1-4 (DVD)

...series following the lives of teachers and there students. The idea of teachers is simple and it appeals to everyone because we have all been there to some extent and it can make you think back to your school days.

Teachers was a channel four drama series that followed the lives and tribulations of a group of young comprehensive school teachers at the fictitious school of Summerdown High (or I hope its not a real school) in Bristol. ...
...and aired for four series. Teachers was nominated for six BAFTA awards between 2002 and 2004, and was nominated for Best British Comedy Show at the British Comedy Awards in 2003.

Teachers seize a funny irrelevant look at the roles of the teachers within our schools. This has made me ask numerous times if my teachers did the same things about myself when I was at school. There are numerous little in gags that make the show funny to ... more

From the simplest ideas often spring the best of TV concepts. I know why not make a comedy drama series following the lives of teachers and there students. The idea of teachers is simple and it appeals to everyone because we have all been there to some extent and it can make you think back to your school days.

Teachers was a channel four drama series that followed the lives and tribulations of a group of young comprehensive school teachers at the fictitious school of Summerdown High (or I hope its not a real school) in Bristol. This was the most successful channel four drama when it was aired and aired for four series. Teachers was nominated for six BAFTA awards between 2002 and 2004, and was nominated for Best British Comedy Show at the British Comedy Awards in 2003.

Teachers seize a funny irrelevant look at the roles of the teachers within our schools. This has made me ask numerous times if my teachers did the same things about myself when I was at school. There are numerous little in gags that make the show funny to watch over and over. Things like the school Donkey (which is in every episode) or the girls who run over the playground to be near the arriving male teachers.

The first series introduced many characters but always focused on the life of Simon Casey (Andrew Lincoln). Simon is a supply teacher teaching English, who still lives with his dad. He seems to have more in common with the students as his laid back attitude to life, making excuses for doing his homework (or marking), wanting to get drunk after school and not actually liking the place. Simon's character does get a permanent job eventually and can be found hanging around the school for the first to series.

Simon isn't the only teacher like this as we are also introduced to as we quickly meet Kurt Mckenna (Navin Chowdhry) and Brian Steadman (Adrian Bower). Kurt is the IT teacher while Brian is the PE teacher who wants to become a proper teacher so starts teaching abit of geography as well. Kurt believes that he is a sex magnet, but in truth he never pulls. Brian is quite good with the ladies, except the fact that he can't actually talk to them. There are many funny incidents with this two like one episode in the third series where Kurt lost the ability to walk due to incident trying to beat Brian to the staff room or the episode where Brian's student stop paying attention to him because of his droning Northern accent.

Perhaps Simons closest ally at the start was his close friend Susan (Raquel Cassidy) from his teacher training days. Susan is the psychology teacher and has a field day analysing the problems faced by all three, but especially Simon's belief in what the students are arguing about. Susan was also a member of the drinking club that the teachers were involved in. Here we find the teachers talking about anything but work.

Within the pub environment we find my favourite character Bob. Bob is the head of English, he's a lot older then all of the other teachers we are introduced to, to put it simply he just wants to be liked - well by nearly everyone (except Simon and in the Final series Ewan). Bob has more meaningful things happen to him. His wife of many years left him for the sky installation man, as a result he was forced to live in his car and the school. In the final series he ordered himself a Thai bride to help get over this and the wedding is the final episode and is probably the funniest episode and is a good way for the drama to finish.

The Head Mistress of the school is another important teacher in the series. Every day starts with the head going into the staff room to give a brief overview of the teachers aims that week for example "this week is national sexual health awareness week" and gives update during the course of the week to tell you who has got which STD so the teachers are aware orf the problem. Another good aspect is that the normal teachers seem to be scared of the head - as all the students are of the teachers. Well all the students except Brandon who bullies Kurt!

To me Teachers is two very different series, but both are equally enjoyable. The first two series are more about building the characters of the teachers but when Simon and Suzanne go off travelling at the end of series 2 things change (Simon reappears briefly in series 3). Season 3-4 are based more around comedy moments. The final series saw two schools merge and all of the teachers had to now interact with a whole new community of teachers. The shock was clear when the teachers had to go to a different pub after work. I have watched Teachers numerous times but have never quite worked out why the donkey is in every episode, but it adds to the interest. Each episode also breaks itself up nicely, as each journey to school somewhere subtly tells you the day of the week.

The musical soundtrack is another interesting thing about the drama. The setting for teachers is Bristol and the music in the first two series is limited to pretty much Feeder, but the final two series explore loads of Indie classics and usually accompany the teachers journey to work.

Overall I would recommend teachers to everyone, as its something everone cant relate to. The series has been given a 15 classification due mainly due to the level of swearing contained within it (most of this comes from Bob). The characters are really strong and diverse to give a nice balanced drama. This always makes me think of my schooling. I only hope the teachers didn't think I was Grint! (Grint is the geeky kid that is always taken the mickey out of).

I'm not sure how much my copy cost as it was a present, but it is currently on play.com for £40 and is worth every penny 

...less