Boarders
- TV Series
- 2024–
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
Five underprivileged students from inner-city London win scholarships to an elite boarding school and find themselves in an unfamiliar world.Five underprivileged students from inner-city London win scholarships to an elite boarding school and find themselves in an unfamiliar world.Five underprivileged students from inner-city London win scholarships to an elite boarding school and find themselves in an unfamiliar world.
- Awards
- 1 win & 7 nominations total
Browse episodes
Featured reviews
I loveed, the fact that they did not take long to release the 2nd season or outright cancel the show like other TV shows! I love how they include LGBTQ characters, so seamlessly. I resonate with Omar so well. I love how the show, shows us the point of view of different characters that come from the same background: "a bad neighbourhood". And shows us how different they all can still be and how differently they react to the same situations. A Tv show like this: centered in black characters and is realistic, i have rarely seen. Hope on seeing more projects like these in the future! Loving season 2 so far cannot wait to see more.
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 !
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 !
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.
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.
I'm nearing the end of episode 3 but I think I get the gist. Quite an entertaining series but I'm not sure if it works entirely. From the start the guys from London are such a mixed bag I'm just not sure how their friendships would have originated and the guys already attending the boarding school are absolute bafoons from the off so you can't take it too seriously. As long as you can over look the above then I think you'll find it mildly amusing and worth investing in on a quiet Sunday lunchtime. That said I think Jaheim (the lead) has got good potential. He carries his character well. And I hated Rupert from the word go which I'm assuming was the actors intentions so good job there too. All in all worth a watch if there's nothing much doing.
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.
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.
Did you know
- TriviaAhead of the release of series 2 in early 2025, the creator of Boarders, Daniel Lawrence Taylor, revealed in UK press interviews that he had already assembled a team of writers to work with him on developing episodes for a prospective third series.
- How many seasons does Boarders have?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Boarders - Welcome to St. Gilbert's
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Color
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content