Boarders

Back to school for BBC Three's comedy drama Boarders

"Drama, drama… and more drama” is what viewers can expect from series two of Boarders, according to Myles Kamwendo, who plays Omar. The first episode of the new BBC Three series had a sold-out preview last month for an audience at Bristol’s Watershed cinema.

Series one introduced us to five black inner-city teenagers who had been offered scholarships to a prestigious private school, so the question facing the writers room for the second outing was: where do we go from here?

School is in session for Boarders series two as BBC releases first look images

The series stars Josh Tedeku (Supacell), Jodie Campbell (No Return), Sekou Diaby, Myles Kamwendo (The School for Good and Evil) and Aruna Jalloh as schoolkids Jaheim, Leah, Toby, Omar and Femi. The talented teens were admitted to private boarding school St Gilbert’s after earning scholarships. Once there, it became clear the scholarships were a thinly veiled attempt at good PR… but the five are still determined to make the most of it. Creator Lawrence Taylor plays Gus, the new recruits’ mentor.

BBC comedy Boarders gets a sophomore series

Following a scholarship for ‘talented kids from disadvantaged backgrounds’, five black teenagers from inner city London find themselves at a predominately white boarding school, ‘St Gilbert’s’.

The five scholars will return for series two, with Josh Tedeku (A Town Called Malice) as Jaheim, Jodie Campbell (No Return) as Leah, Sekou Diaby as Toby, Myles Kamwendo (The School for Good and Evil) as Omar and Aruna Jalloh as Femi. Lawerence Taylor will also be back as the five’s mentor, Gus.

Our Friend in Wales: Edward Russell

It doesn’t matter where we are in our career, we never stop networking. I was with a colleague at the RTS Programme Awards in March. As we watched Charlotte Moore presenting the ­Outstanding Achievement Award to Stephen Lambert, we mused how, irrespective of Studio Lambert’s run of successes with shows such as The Traitors, Squid Game: The Challenge and Boarders, even someone at that level is still probably having conversations about the next commission or series they’re working on.

Cultures collide in Daniel Lawrence Taylor's new series Boarders

Five schoolchildren look around at their school, disorientated

As five scholarship students nervously enter their prestigious new boarding school, mentor Gus – played by the show’s writer and creator, Daniel Lawrence Taylor – offers some wise words: “Don’t be who they expect you to be.” Our leads duly oblige, and that motto applies to Boarders itself. Entering unusual territory in television, the culture-clash series roams freely between high laughs, subtle observations and heavy drama, surprising us every step of the way.

Casting announced for new Daniel Lawrence Taylor comedy Boarders

Boarders will follow five black teenagers from underprivileged backgrounds who receive scholarships to an elite boarding school, St Gilberts. Leaving their homes in inner-city London for the roller-coaster of boarding school, they go on personal journeys and find out how the other half live.

Two of the lead actors, Sekou Diaby and Aruna Jalloh, will be making their screen debuts alongside Josh Tedeku (A Town Called Malice), Jodie Campbell (Bulletproof), and Myles Kamwendo (The School for Good and Evil).