Bad Education (TV series)
Bad Education is a British television sitcom that was produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Three. It stars Jack Whitehall as young teacher Alfie Wickers – "the worst teacher ever to grace the British education system" – at the fictional Abbey Grove School, in Hertfordshire. At the time of the series launch in August 2012, it broke BBC Three's record for the highest viewing figure for a first episode of a comedy, which was previously held by "Horne & Corden", but is now held by "Cuckoo". The second series premiered on BBC iPlayer on 27 August 2013 , a week before the television air date of 3 September, as part of BBC Three's plans to premiere all its scripted comedy programmes online. This experiment proved successful, as the first episode of the second series received 1.5 million requests prior to its television airing. A Christmas special aired on 17 December 2013. The third series of "Bad Education" began transmission on 16 September 2014. Due to its success, the show was later adapted into a film, which was released on 21 August 2015. In late 2014, Whitehall confirmed that the show would not receive a fourth series. Synopsis . The series focuses on Alfred "Alfie" Wickers (Jack Whitehall) - a posh, newly graduated secondary school History teacher at the fictional Abbey Grove School, in Watford or Tring, Hertfordshire. Ever determined to impress his crush, Rosie Gulliver (Sarah Solemani) Alfie makes a repeated effort to appear "cool", performing activities including coaching the school football team, organising a weapons amnesty, and fielding a candidate for the school elections. Usually, in these efforts, he turns to his mismatched class for help, despite them often disapproving of his actions. They are teacher's pet Joe (Lawrence), tough guy Mitchell (Wernham), wheelchair user rudeboy Rem  Dogg (Binstead), sexually promiscuous Chantelle (Runeckles), camp Stephen (Williams), studious Jing (Alexander), outwardly fiery Cleopatra (Opia), and school bully Frank (Bence). At the same time, Alfie finds himself having to deal with the shenanigans of his eccentric headmaster, Shaquille "Simon" Fraser (Horne), and meet the expectations of a string of deputy heads: at first demanding dictator Isobel Pickwell (Gomez), then the ruthless yet cringeworthy Professor Celia "Pro Green" Green (Spiro), and then his own father, dramatically inappropriate Martin Wickers (Enfield). It is clarified in the final series that the entire show spans a single academic year. Production. The first series  started airing on 14 August 2012. On 23 August 2012, it was announced that "Bad Education" would have a second series. The second series began airing on BBC Three on 3 September 2013. Part of the second series was filmed at St. Michael's Catholic High School, Finchley, London. "Bad Education" was also partially filmed at the former site of Ashmount Primary School on Hornsey Lane on 12 and 13 May 2013. Some scenes were filmed at the former Salesian College in Battersea, London. Parts of Series 3 were filmed at Ricards Lodge High School in Merton. American adaptation. A  pilot for a U.S. adaptation of "Bad Education", named "An American Education", was ordered by ABC with Whitehall set to reprise his role as Alfie Wickers. The pilot began filming in Los Angeles in January 2014. However, ABC passed on the pilot on 22 May 2014. Whitehall would continue with the original UK series of the show. Film adaptation. On 27 February 2015, Whitehall confirmed that a feature film edition of "Bad Education" was in production. Filming took place in Cornwall with the majority of the main cast all reprising their roles for the film. The film is titled "The  Bad Education Movie" and was released on 21 August 2015 in the UK. The film saw ineffectual teacher Alfie Wickers travelling to Cornwall with his students. Entertainment Film Distributors, who also handled the release of the box-office 2011 hit "The Inbetweeners Movie" dealt with the release of the "Bad Education Movie". Reception. The series received mixed reviews from the British press. "The Guardian" called it "in poor taste" and accused Whitehall of "phoning it in". "The Daily Telegraph" gave the show a rating of 2 out of 5, claiming that the show "uses too many stereotypes" and that Whitehall  tends to repeat many jokes rather than creating new ones. Both the "Daily Mirror" and "The Sun" gave the sitcom a rating of 2 out of 5. Rotten Tomatoes gave the show 71%; a critic said, "the script is patchy and the story is too silly for its own good but there are enough laughs to make this a hit with the target audience"