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Standing on stage at the St Gilbert’s School showcase, acting headteacher Carol Watlington-Geese (Niky Wardley) has some words of encouragement for the teens performing their drama monologues, and the parents paying their handsome fees. “Who knows,” she cackles, a not-so-subtle smirk lingering across her face. “We may have the next Eddie Redmayne or Tom Hiddleston among us!” That might sound innocent, but like most things in Boarders it isn’t, because Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston are white and the scholarship kids Watlington-Geese is desperately trying to get rid of are all black. St Gilbert’s, she later tells one of the group, is all about “team players, not troublemakers” – and she had decided who the troublemakers were from the start.
Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s satirical teen comedy first aired early last year. It is set at an exclusive boarding school where the students in question have been enlisted to make over a reputation that is stale, male, pale and generally appalling. Rupert, Carol’s son no less, has been filmed pouring champagne over a homeless man (if this sounds outlandish, it is only slightly worse than the infamous case of a Cambridge student who burned a £20 note in front of a man who was sleeping rough). Enter stage left: five new students, all young, gifted and black, who have been shipped in from the big smoke by their mentor, Gus (played by Taylor). He reminds them of their talents but warns them to keep their heads down. Of course, that is easier said than done: Leah (Jodie Campbell) is grossed out by the school’s colonial vibes, which she likens to Get Out, Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror comedy about race, and quickly makes an enemy of the then headmaster, while Femi (Aruna Jalloh) is led astray by the popular kids, whose hazing rituals blur the line between friendship and bullying. Meanwhile, Jaheim (Josh Tedeku) remains embroiled in problems at home on his London estate; Omar (Myles Kamwendo) is more interested in joining a secret society than studying; and class clown Toby (Sekou Diaby) is accused of dealing drugs. There are laughs, romance, sex, drama – and a strong possibility that the gang might not make it through their A-levels.
In series two, that prospect is all but confirmed by Watlington-Geese, who has decided that the school’s coffers are so empty that the scholarship programme must be reduced from five students to three by the end of the year. Femi, in particular, is stressed: he knows his dad will book him on the first flight back to Nigeria if he puts a foot wrong, and a new drama teacher seems to have it in for him. Leah, meanwhile, wants to put up a fight against Carol. (“So you learned absolutely nothing from last year?” deadpans Jaheim).
Slap-bang into the middle of this precarious situation arrives a new black exchange student from the US, Devon’ye, played by Kendra Brown, who is a perfect ally for Leah – until she isn’t. Brown and Campbell do an excellent job as the frenemies with everything in common but also nothing in common, and tensions begin to mount during a school sleepover at which they screen Steve McQueen’s 2014 film 12 Years a Slave for their fellow pupils. As before, the series is at pains to show that there are many different ways to be black, some of which – as Leah points out when Devon’ye breaks into laboured slam poetry – have the potential to be “super, super cringe”.
The stakes are high for everyone – not least Omar, whose standing with the Raisinettes society is under threat unless he gets them some salacious gossip. Kamwendo plays this bag of nerves with love and care, especially in scenes with love interest Dilton (Dillon Mitra). In fact, the core five are ever more impressive this time around, from Diaby’s tight comedy chops, to Jalloh’s forays into Shakespeare (he has performed with the RSC), and Tedeku’s masterly ability to convey the feeling that Jaheim has the weight of the world on his teenage shoulders at all times.
It’s not perfect. As with many school-set shows before it, Boarders juggles a surfeit of plots and characters. That means sometimes we just don’t get enough of intriguing new faces, and guest spots from Alan Cumming and Natalie Cassidy (best known as Sonia from EastEnders) are more like cameos. Similarly, Wunmi Mosaku – who has starred in series such as HBO’s Lovecraft Country – is criminally underused as Jaheim’s mum, Grace: although maybe that is to be expected given they are estranged. There should always be more screen time for Abby (Assa Kanouté) whose mean girl tendencies have slowly given way to a sense of mutual understanding with the scholarship kids – after all, she’s only at St Gilbert’s because her dad used to be the headteacher and her place is now at risk too. We could also do with more scenes where Leah, Jaheim, Omar, Femi and Toby join forces (when they do occur, these are some of the strongest in the series).
Still, these are minor bugbears in a show brimming with warmth, wisdom and a sense of barely concealed anarchy that often recalls some of the finest British teen comedies, from The Inbetweeners to Skins. As Boarders proves, you can be a team player and a troublemaker all at the same time.
