Boarders

Pretty good series - I'm only 3 episodes in but it sucked me in from the very first episode. It's really absorbing and does a good job of mixing serious social and on point racial commentary with laugh out loud comedy. The characters show a lot of heat and are likable, well developed and unpredictable.

It's hard to guess what direction people are going to go in because the characters are so layered with no one appearing one dimensional. It's been a long time since I've seen something so good like this on British TV and it's nice to have something other than a political or police drama to watch and get sucked into.

It's also nice to know that slang hasn't changed too much and the social media girls are particularly on point.

This could have been an interesting show. There are many good actors, and it had potential to develop into something fun. But I don't think the writers knew what they were doing with it.

The story just rambles from one character to another. There are five interesting characters, and they each have their own issues, but none of them get developed very deeply. We just keep jumping around to these unconnected storylines that are fairly unbelievable.

We are supposed to think these characters know each other and are good friends, but we don't have any background to explain that, and they don't really seem to have anything in common other than that they attended the same community center classes.

And then the story seems to follow some of the characters from the school for a while, but then it jumps back to the main characters. Nobody really gets the full story development. Nothing significant really happens.

Waste of talent and time.

BBC Three's Boarders arrives with energy, heart, and a pitch that practically sells itself: five Black working-class teens are offered scholarships to a posh boarding school in the wake of a PR scandal. It's a fish-out-of-water set-up ripe with class tension, culture clashes, and comic potential - a fresh spin on British school dramas that rarely centre stories like these.

And for the most part, Boarders delivers what it promises - a lively, character-driven coming-of-age story with flashes of sharp social commentary and a likeable cast. The young actors bring warmth and authenticity to roles that sometimes feel more like archetypes than fully formed characters, and when the writing lets them breathe, there's real heart here.

But for a show about friction, Boarders can feel strangely frictionless. The class satire never cuts as deep as it could, the emotional arcs are uneven, and the stakes often feel manufactured rather than earned. The tone wavers - veering from sincere drama to heightened farce without always sticking the landing - and the writing sometimes leans on easy tropes rather than doing the harder work of digging into the nuance the premise begs for.

That said, there's something undeniably watchable about it. The pacing is brisk, the setting well utilised, and the chemistry among the cast does a lot of heavy lifting. It's the kind of series that feels like a stepping stone - for its cast. With a sharper script and more narrative focus, Boarders could've been something great. As it stands, it's solidly watchable - sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating, always full of promise.

Both of the seasons of this show are well written at times with moments that are genuinely funny that will make you laugh out loud especially if you know my stereotypes of private school kids in the uk being unbearable and out of touch. The will they won't they relationships every character has is interesting at first a they are hopefully building for a payoff in the third season but Christ they are all written with the emotional subtlety of a sledgehammer with characters constantly putting their foot in the mouth as they fail to learn from their mistakes over and over which begins to grain after a while in season 2 but overall a good binge worth show especially if your from the uk.

Zoomed through the six episodes. Couldn't resist the fun and entertainment. It's one of those love hate dramas. Doubt there will be not much middle ground in the reviews. The chairperson of the governors Carol is wonderfully slimey played by Niky Wardley. Bernard the hard pressed headmaster is her equal but somehow scores a few more goodie points. Josh Teduku as Jaheim and Jodie Campbell as Leah must surely go on to far greater things.

One fears the wrath of those pointing to racial stereotypes and endorsement of elitism BUT if one considers it as just light entertainment - it's fab.

Anyway, it was a horrible tasteless picture (you'll know when you see it) and needed to be put on hold for bonfire night. Just enjoy it !