Teachers (UK TV series)

Teachers
Teachers title card.
Created by	Tim Loane
Starring	Andrew Lincoln Adrian Bower Raquel Cassidy Navin Chowdhry Nina Sosanya Gillian Bevan Ursula Holden-Gill Lloyd McGuire Ellen Thomas Tamzin Malleson Shaun Evans James Lance Vicky Hall Lee Williams Mathew Horne
Ending theme	The Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	40 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jane Fallon
Running time	45-50 minutes
Production company(s)	Tiger Aspect Productions
Distributor	Endemol UK
Release
Original network	Channel 4
Original release	21 March 2001 – 22 December 2004
Chronology
Related shows	Teachers (US)
External links
Website

Teachers is a British television comedy-drama series,^[1] created by Tim Loane and originally shown on Channel 4. The series follows a group of secondary school teachers in their daily lives.

While the first series centres heavily around probationary teacher Simon Casey (Andrew Lincoln), later series have a more balanced ensemble approach. The cast changes dramatically over time, with few original characters remaining by the fourth series. While some of these disappearances are explained, others happen between series without explanation.

The first three series are set in the fictional Summerdown Comprehensive, which merges with another school in the fourth series to form Wattkins School. The first three series were filmed at the former Merrywood Grammar School, while the fourth was filmed at the former Lockleaze school in Bristol, England.

Teachers was nominated for six BAFTA awards between 2002 and 2004, and was nominated for Best Comedy Drama at the British Comedy Awards in 2003.

In January 2005, after a muted reception to the fourth series, Channel 4 announced that Teachers would not continue for a fifth series. A short-lived U.S. version was aired in 2006.

Cast

Music

Soundtracks

• Teachers: A Class Soundtrack
• Teachers 2: Back To School
• Teachers 3: A New Term
• Teachers 4: Top of the Class

Episodes

Themes

Like many sitcoms Teachers had certain themes that it maintained through every episode. These included:

• Appearances of animals, particularly donkeys, in unusual places. Others seen include lions, penguins and sheep. In all such appearances, the teachers and students are completely oblivious to these animals.
• A staffroom scene early in the episode, usually with an announcement by Clare to set up one of the plots or premises of the episode.
• The name of the day written in a variety of ways in the scenery, a prop or a bodily adornment.
• Smoking is a very prominent feature in every episode. A lot of the scenes in all episodes, primarily through the first three series, feature members of the cast smoking as they banter
• The pub is the setting where nearly every episode of Teachers starts, usually with the teachers having immaturely themed conversations.

Every episode featured contemporary music, usually with clips of at least five songs (regularly including the bands The Bluetones, Shed Seven, Feeder, The Dandy Warhols, Starsailor, Mercury Rev, The Hives, Athlete, I Am Kloot, The Libertines, Ash, and Supergrass), and the soundtrack to all four series has been released on CD by the Channel 4 shop. The theme tune is the solo section of The Boy With The Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian.

DVD releases

Release name	UK Release Date	Original Air Date	Discs	Episodes
Teachers: Series One	11 August 2003/24 September 2007	2001	2	1-8
Teachers: Series Two	29 September 2003/24 September 2007	2002	3	9-18
Teachers: Series Three	1 November 2004/24 September 2007	2003	4	19-31
Teachers: Series Four	3 October 2005	2004	3	32-40
Teachers: Series 1-4	6 November 2006/2 Sep 2013	2001 - 2004	12	1-40

See also

• Teachers (2006 U.S. TV series)

References

1. "Teachers".

External links

• Teachers at Channel4.com
• Teachers at the Internet Movie Database
• Teachers at TV.com