Bad Education to return for new series and special

Wednesday 11th May 2022, 5:30pm

• Bad Education is to return to screens later this year for a 10th birthday episode
• Jack Whitehall will resume his role as Alfie Wickers in the special
• A full fourth series will then follow, seeing former students Stephen and Mitchell as new teachers

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Bad Education is to return to BBC Three for both a full new series and a 10th anniversary special.

Created and written by Freddy Syborn and comedian Jack Whitehall, who also starred, the school-set sitcom will mark its 10th birthday in August, an anniversary that will be marked with a 45-minute special later this year.

Featuring Whitehall as largely incompetent teacher Alfie Wickers and an ensemble as his students, Class K - including Ethan Lawrence, Layton Williams, Jack Binstead, Charlie Wernham and Weruche Opia - the comedy ran for three hit series before spinning off into a feature film.

Sarah Solemani, Mathew Horne, Harry Enfield, Michelle Gomez and Samantha Spiro co-starred as other teachers in the Tiger Aspect production.

The special will see Alfie reunited with his former pupils as they return to Abbey Grove school for a joyfully chaotic careers day.

A full six-episode series will then follow, seeing drag-loving diva Stephen (West End star Layton Williams) and troublemaker Mitchell (Wernham) back in the classroom as newly qualified (but woefully inexperienced) teachers.

Written by a team of breakthrough writers led by Nathan Bryon - including Laura Smyth, Leila Navabi, Priya Hall, Ciaran Bartlett, Rhys Taylor and Layton Williams - Series 4 will see Stephen and Mitchell get to grips with their new career and wayward students, all whilst new headteacher and control freak Ms Hoburn looms large.

Meanwhile, recently departed head Mr Fraser (Mathew Horne) and his questionable 'bants' continues to hang around the school in various lowly roles as HR struggle to fire him.

Syborn will direct all seven new episodes whilst Jack Whitehall will serve as executive producer.

Whitehall says: "I'm so pumped for a ten-year anniversary special of Bad Education, the show that launched my career. I have such fond memories and it will be great for the fans to check in and find out what class K have been up to since they left and if Alfie Wickers is still as much of a melt as they remember.

"The new rebooted series is so exciting. I'm so old and irrelevant I've decided it's best I take more of a producer role with Bad Education, but we've assembled a young, talented group of writers led by the brilliant Nathan Bryon who will be carrying the torch.

"Charlie Wernham is his generation's Danny Dyer but with less royal heritage. Hopefully being a lead in this will be a springboard to him doing a decade of violent Brit flicks about hooliganism. Layton Williams (below) is a superstar. I honestly think one day he will be an EGOTT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony, TV Choice Award winner). Abbey Grove and the new class K couldn't be in safer hands."

Richard Ackerman, co-executive producer at Jackpot Productions adds: "We're so delighted to be bringing this amazing show back for the 10 year anniversary special and catch up with Alfie at Abbey Grove for one final time. If it's possible we're even more excited to get the chance to do the rebooted series with the extraordinary Layton & Charlie. For Jackpot to be making this show with Tiger Aspect is the cherry on the icing on the cake."

David Simpson, Head of Comedy at Tiger Aspect, says: "It's so exciting to be returning to Abbey Grove. Jack and Freddy have written a wonderful script for the ten-year anniversary special and I can't wait for people to see what the gang have been up to. I also can't wait for people to meet the new cast at the school in the brand-new rebooted series, led by Layton and Charlie. It has been a joy being in the writer's rooms with a hugely talented team of writers and this new series will follow in the footsteps of the original - packed full of jokes and brilliant set pieces that fans old and new are going to love."

Bad Education Series 4 is a co-production between Tiger Aspect (part of Banijay UK) and Jackpot Productions for the BBC. David Simpson will executive produce for Tiger Aspect, with Jack Whitehall and Richard Ackerman executive producing for Jackpot and Freddy Syborn also executive producing. The commissioning editor for the BBC is Tanya Qureshi.

The news was announced by Jon Petrie, the BBC's new Director of Comedy, in a speech at the BBC Comedy Festival in which he revealed the corporation is set to invest extra £10 million into comedy over the next two years. A number of other commissions were announced today, including a new special from Detectorists. Full story