The History Boys

In 1980s Britain, a group of young men at Cutlers' Grammar School have just achieved the highest A-Level grades in the institution's history, and will be staying on for a seventh term to sit the Oxbridge entrance exams. They have both the brains the will to earn the chance of getting accepted into the finest universities in the nation, but their essays, whilst correct and true, are desperately dull.

Despite the fine teaching by excellent professionals like Mrs Lintott in history and the intellectually enthusiastic Hector in General Studies, the Headmaster is not satisfied. He signs on the bright young teacher Irwin - only a few years older than the boys, and who claims to have been educated at Oxford University - to polish the students' style, encourage a dazzling capacity for critical thinking, and enable them to surprise and impress the dons of the dreaming spires.

In this mix of intellectualism and creative spirit that guides a rigorous preparation regime for that ultimate educational brass ring, the lives of the randy students and the ostensibly restrained faculty mesh together in a heady, pulsating rush.