Boarders is back on BBC with an explosive second season (Picture: BBC/Studio Lambert)
BBC’s hit coming-of-age series Boarders is back for another season of boarding school shenanigans for our five Black scholarship students trying to make it against the odds.
The first series of British screenwriter Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s comedy-drama came out with a bang in 2024, quickly amassing a steady fanbase and plenty of online buzz with its relatability, whipsmart humour and delightful teenage chaos quintessential of this era of Gen Z shows.
The ‘unique’ plot follows our chaotic bunch of teens – Jaheim (Josh Tedeku), Leah (Jodie Campbell), Toby (Sekou Diaby), Omar (Myles Kamwendo) and Femi (Aruna Jalloh) – and the struggles they face at majority-white boarding school, St Gilberts after joining on a newly-launched scholarship scheme.
For underrepresented groups, it’s a tale as old as time. An institution gets called out for bigotry, the institution ships in diverse faces totally unequipped, minorities suffer. Rinse and repeat.
‘Me and Josh went to Lille last year [and] these two ladies came up to us. They went to a private school and were in the minority. [They told us] “oh my gosh I really needed that show” and it was a moment for us to be like: “Oh, okay, this is great”,’ Jodie recalled to Metro ahead of the season two premiere.
Although the reaction to the first season was somewhat of a ‘surprise’, both Jodie and Josh had full confidence in the script, especially as two actors who had ‘lived through’ this experience themselves.
Josh Tedeku plays newly-appointed Head Boy Jaheim (Picture: BBC)
And Jodie Campbell stars as student activist Leah (Picture: BBC)
‘I was a scholarship student at a private school and when I read the script I was like “oh my gosh, this is relatable”.
‘I went onto a grammar [school] for sixth form which I feel like more of my Boarders experience came from because it was less diverse. But being able to bring that into the show was great.
‘I remember reading the script like “okay this is really fun”. Not only can it relate to other people but I can also find similarities with Leah and the other characters,’ Jodie shared.
Josh echoed: ‘I spent two weeks in a private school before I left because the money was too much. But the schools I went to in areas outside of London where you are one of ten Black people, I was drawing from that.
‘The feeling never really leaves you. It’s an experience that is definitely heavy on you, you never forget how that feels so it was quite easy to step back into that for the role.’
And he remembers both at school and in the industry being used as a ‘poster boy’ even when these places ‘don’t really care about you’ much like Jaheim’s experience of being appointed head boy as the school plunges into crisis, a hypocrisy Josh thought it was ‘important to highlight in the show’.
‘That’s happened to me many times during school and even in this industry where it was majority-white for a long time. Now they are letting minorities through the door. Sometimes they may push you forward but they don’t care for you like they care for the others,’ he reflected.
Alan Cumming and Natalie Cassidy are two of the guest stars in the new season (Picture: BBC / Studio Lambert / Jonathan Birch)
The new season explores brand new problems for our group of teens (Picture: BBC)
The five main stars are a ‘relatively fresh cast’, with Josh having a handful of projects under his belt.
Josh said: ‘When I read the script it was the first thing that had the depth that I wanted and the range of a Black story, rather than it just being a certain type of Black story. That really excited me.
And Jodie agreed: ‘It’s that typical “fish out of water” story that not only Black people can relate to but anyone who has been in a space where they haven’t been fully accepted can watch Boarders and be like “okay I’ve felt this before”.
‘I think it will talk to a lot of people. But, again, it still has the comedy elements from other coming-of-age dramas that we all know and love. Tried and tested. So it’s a mixture of both.’
And it’s that ‘realness and rawness’ which sets it apart from other great coming-of-age shows like Heartstopper and Sex Education.
Both stars have nothing but praise for the show’s creative team who gave them the creative freedom to shape Gen Z characters and dialogue that felt authentic.
Especially during an era when it is so easy to get it wrong.
‘In all honesty, I think we still have a long way to go,’ Josh admitted.
‘You see in shows like Skins and now us where if you give your actors some more freedom you get more of that realness and rawness from the younger generation.
‘When you’re older you do look down at the younger generation condescendingly and then you write in a way that mocks them. Nothing has perfectly captured what the younger generations are like. When I was 16 I wasn’t some dopey, dumb guy. We knew what right and wrong was.’
The show doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, like the decolonisation movement that has swept the nation and provoked an outcry at colonial-era art still being publicly paraded.
It’s an issue Leah tackles head-on in the first season as she takes drastic measures to remove an offensive school painting.
The show had a brilliant reception to season one (Picture: BBC / Studio Lambert Media Ltd / Jonathan Birch / Russell Kirby)
‘Leah was initially excited to come to the school opening its doors to a young Black woman.
‘It’s all well and good doing those changes but as soon as you walk into the door there is a very offensive painting that is an immediate poster saying “you guys aren’t welcome”. It was a big thing for her.
‘The way Boarders handled this tough subject with comedy, making it so absurd makes it an easier conversation to have.’
The new season guest stars devoted fan Alan Cumming, EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy and Downton Abbey’s Cara Theobold.
And promises plenty of standout moments from Leah encountering new challenges in her pursuit of justice to a threatening ultimatum doled out by the new headteacher, Carol (Niky Wardely) that has all five students feeling the heat.
But there is definitely a vibe shift in the new episodes, as Josh explained: ‘In season one you get minorities going into a system blah blah blah.
‘Season two rides that wave but it’s a bit more “we’re dealing with school kids now”. In season one, there were many polarising plot points like Jaheim’s beating and Leah being a full-on Black Lives Matter activist but season two just lets them be kids.’
Boarders season two arrives on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer on Sunday, February 2.
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