Boarders: The BBC’s New Coming-Of-Age Drama Drops Soon

By Martha Davies

10 months ago

You won’t have to wait long to watch this new show


If One Day has you hunting for more heartwarming TV to watch, you’ll be happy to hear that Boarders, the BBC’s brand new comedy drama, will be released next week. Read on for the rundown.

Boarders: Everything We Know About The BBC’s New Show

Lead characters as boarding school students in Boarders

Credit: BBC/Studio Lambert

Plot

Boarders follows a group of black London teenagers whose lives begin to change after they win scholarships to an elite boarding school.

The BBC synopsis describes the show as ‘a high energy, coming of age comedy drama which follows the lives of five talented black inner-city teenagers navigating their way through an alien world – the British public school system.’ 

Derek Riddell and Niky Wardley as school staff in Boarders

BBC/Studio Lambert

‘Following a problematic viral video involving a student,’ the synopsis continues, ‘our five leads (Jaheim, Leah, Omar, Toby and Femi) are offered sixth form scholarships to St Gilbert’s, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious schools, in an attempt to rehabilitate its image. They soon find themselves in a world they can only describe as something out of Harry Potter, surrounded by lush playing fields, cloistered grandeur and complex social rules which they must decipher quickly in order to survive.’ 

Sound intriguing? The show will delve into the students’ lives as they ‘learn about themselves, their identity and what it’s like to live alongside the one percent – which they discover is nothing like life as they knew it,’ the BBC states. Created by Daniel Lawrence Taylor (the man behind the Bafta-nominated ITV2 show Timewasters), Boarders will air on BBC iPlayer as a six-part series.

Cast

  • Josh Tedeku as Jaheim
  • Jodie Campbell as Leah
  • Myles Kamwendo as Omar
  • Sekou Diaby as Toby
  • Aruna Jalloh as Femi
  • Derek Riddell as headmaster Bernard
  • Niky Wardley as Carol Watlington-Geese, chair of the school board
  • Daniel Lawrence Taylor as school mentor Gus

Trailer

Check out the Boarders trailer below:

Release Date

All episodes of Boarders will be available as a boxset on BBC iPlayer from 6am on 20 February, and the first episode will air on BBC Three that evening at 9pm. The series will then continue to air weekly on BBC Three at 9pm. bbc.co.uk