''Boarders'' is a British teen comedy-drama television series created by

Daniel Lawrence Taylor Daniel Lawrence Taylor is a British actor, comedy writer, and producer. In 2004, Taylor graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in drama and theatre studies. He appeared in several sitcoms includi ...

, centred around the lives of five young Black teens who earn scholarships into the prestigious boarding school of St. Gilbert's. The six-part series is developed by

Studio Lambert Studio Lambert is an independent British television production company based in London, Manchester and Los Angeles. It creates and produces scripted and unscripted programs for British and American broadcasters, cable networks and streaming platf ...

in association with

All3Media International All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film and digital production and distribution company based in London, England. The All3Media group comprises more than 40 production and distribution companies from across the U ...

for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

. It premiered on 20 February 2024.

Cast

Main

Josh Tedeku Josh is a masculine given name, frequently a diminutive ( hypocorism) of the given names Joshua or Joseph, though since the 1970s, it has increasingly become a full name on its own. It may refer to: People A–J * "Josh", an early pseudonym o ...

as Jaheim Marsham * Jodie Campbell as Leah Dulverton * Myles Kamwendo as Omar Palmer-Grace * Aruna Jalloh as Femi Adebeyo * Sekou Diaby as Toby Staithes

Supporting

as Gus *

Derek Riddell Derek Riddell (born 11 January 1967) is a Scottish television and theatre actor. He is best known for the portrayal of Dr. Jamie Patterson in the Channel 4 television series ''No Angels''. He has also guest starred in '' Doctor Who'', ''Ugly B ...

as Bernard *

Harry Gilby Harry Gilby is an English actor, best known for playing a young J. R. R. Tolkien in the film ''Tolkien'' (2019) and Æthelstan in the fifth season of ''The Last Kingdom'' (2022) and the follow-up film '' The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die' ...

as Rupert *

Tallulah Greive Tallulah Greive (born 23 October 1997) is a Scottish actress. She is known for her roles as Orla in '' Our Ladies'', Princess Gwen in ''Cinderella'' and Lauren in '' Millie Inbetween''. Early and personal life Greive was born in Perth, West ...

as Beatrix * Rosie Graham as Florence * Georgina Sadler as Mabel * Assa Kanoute as Abby * Archie Fisher as Cheddar * Zheng Xi Yong as Xiang

Recurring

Niky Wardley Nichola Petra "Niky" Wardley (born 11 August 1973) is an English stage and screen actress. Her most notable role is schoolgirl Lauren Cooper's sidekick in the BBC's Emmy and BAFTA-nominated sketch series ''The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–200 ...

as Carol Watlington-Geese * Nimisha Odedra as Preeya * Sarah Daykin as Chelsea *

Ruxandra Porojnicu Ruxandra Porojnicu (born 5 July 1993) is a Romanian actress. She is known for her portrayal of Alina Pop in the British soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from 2019 until 2021. Life and career Porojnicu was born on 5 July 1993 in Bucharest, Romani ...

as Yelena * Yuriri Naka as Ms Kaneko * Maxim Ays as Felix * Dillon Mitra as Dilton

Production

Development

In August 2022, it was announced

had commissioned a six-part series titled ''Boarders'' from

and

. In addition to Lawrence Taylor, the series would be executive produced by Susan Hogg and Maddie Sinclair for Studio Lambert, and Ayela Butt and Gaynor Holmes for the BBC. Joining him in the writers room were Emma Dennis-Edwards, Yemi Oyefuwa, and Ryan Calais Cameron. A second series was announced on 4 June 2024 via the BBC's official media channels. It was confirmed the main cast would reprise their roles. In July 2024,

Tubi Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...

officially boarded the project as a co-producer for its second series due to the "incredible response" to series 1.

Casting

In July 2023, it was announced

, Jodie Campbell, and Myles Kamwendo would star in the series alongside Sekou Diaby and Aruna Jalloh. Creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor would appear in the series as a mentor. Also joining the cast were

, Rosie Graham, Georgina Sadler, and Assa Kanoute.

Filming

Principal photography took place in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

served as the fictional St Gilbert's in the series. Other filming locations included

Ashton Court Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol. The mansion and stables are a Grade I listed building. Other structures on th ...

and

Redcliffe Redcliffe may refer to: Places England *Redcliffe, Bristol, a district of the city *Redcliffe College, a Bible college in Gloucester, England Queensland, Australia *Redcliffe Peninsula, a peninsula and suburban region in the Brisbane metropolit ...

Episodes

Reception

''Boarders'' received positive reviews from critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reported an approval rating of 100% based on 8 reviews. Leila Latif of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' gave ''Boarders'' four out of five stars and called it "packed with future megastars" in line with the '' Skins'' ensemble, singling out Campbell, Diaby, Tedeku, and Kanoute's performances in particular. Louisa Mellor for ''

Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a bi-annual magazine. History ''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ...

'' recommended the series to ''

Sex Education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduct ...

'' fans. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

s Poppie Platt also gave the series four stars, calling it "razor-sharp". Morgan Cormack of ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' commended how ''Boarders'' balances serious, heavy topics and moments of learning with comedy and fun.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 21438656 2024 British television series debuts 2020s British comedy television series 2020s British satirical television series 2020s British teen television series BBC satirical television shows Black British television shows Boarding school fiction British English-language television shows British high school television series British television series about teenagers Television shows shot in Bristol Tubi original programming