Ackley Bridge

The new ten-part series will see the addition of new character Kayla (Robyn Cara), a funny and vibrant mixed-race teenager who is facing an identity crisis, torn between her mum’s family who are white and her dad’s traditional Pakistani family.

Joining Kayla is her best friend Fizza (Yasmin Al Khudhairi), who is intelligent and politically active, plus the attractive but arrogant Johnny (Ryan Dean), a member of the travelling community who is sceptical of school and catches the attention of Kayla and Fizza.

Instead of 60-minute weekly episodes, the new ten-part series will now be 30 minutes.

Ackley Bridge was inspired by real-life Lancashire and Yorkshire schools, which had been set up to help integrate white and Asian communities in some of the most divided towns in the country.

The RTS award-winning series has been praised for tackling real-life issues with intelligence and sensitivity, creating hard-hitting and thought-provoking stories.

The programmes include a new crime thriller by Steven Moffat, a political drama starring Hugh Laurie, an adaption of Jo Bloom’s Ridley Road and a drama focusing on the controversial abortion laws in Northern Ireland.

The BBC’s regional producer dominated the news and current affairs categories, with Inside Out winning the News or Current Affairs Story category for its investigation into faulty Ford cars.

Just under 100 industry professionals gathered at Prime’s new events space, Archive, to discover whether their work had made it on to the awards shortlist. Larry and Paul, a comedy act who have built up a strong local following on BBC Radio Leeds, hosted the launch.

Nominations for the 18 awards categories reflected the healthy level of production in the Yorkshire region. The hotly contested factual awards earned multiple nominations for Daisybeck Studios, Air TV, True North and True Vision Yorkshire.

Having recently been taken over by the Valley Trust, new deputy head teacher Martin Evershed (Robert James-Collier) and director of behaviour Sue Carp (Charlie Hardwick) are called in to put the school to rights.

Ackley Bridge’s upcoming third season will also see Jo Joyner return as headteacher Mandy Carter, along with Poppy Lee Friar and Amy-Leigh Hickman who play school friends Missy and Nasreen.

 “I am thrilled to be asked to play the part of Martin Evershed, the new Deputy Head at Ackley Bridge,” said Robert James-Collier on his new role.

“Building a buzz 3: social media masterclass” in late September was the third in a series of linked events run by the RTS centre over the past 18 months, following “Building a buzz: what makes a good PR” campaign and “Building a buzz: what makes a good promo”.

The popular secondary school-set series, which is made by the Forge, scooped four top prizes, including the prestigious Drama award. Poppy Lee Friar, who plays feisty Missy Booth, was named Best Actor; Penny Woolcock took home the Director Fiction prize; and Tim Phillips won the Music award.

More than 350 guests attended the ceremony at the Queens Hotel in Leeds, which was hosted by Ellie and Izzi Warner, two of the stars of Channel 4 show Gogglebox.

The series explores the challenging school experience, including the conflicting cultural issues in the school environment among its pupils, teachers and parents. 

Get to know some of the characters in the new series. Ackley Bridge starts on Wednesday 7 June at 8pm on Channel 4.

Kaneez Paracha, played by Sunetra Sarker