Phoenix Rise

I saw a trailer for this and my immediate thoughts was, was I too old for this ?, not another school based series, there have been many, but thankfully I watched a few episodes and I could not stop.

So set in Coventry, six pupils arrive at Phoenix Rise School under the scrutiny of Mr Stewart the head teacher. To cope with surviving the initial issues of the school the pupils form the boiler house six, the meeting place to iron out their problems.

All the young actors in this series are outstanding, all their characters are acted out with extreme individualism, strongly played roles and what I found to be unbelievable, was some were playing their very first roles!

There is a great plot to the series, obviously most covers the going on at the school, relationships etc, but there some sub plots and a great flowing script that makes this entertaining.

This is for all ages not too many if any, offensive dialogues, for me I guess and hope this series being filmed in Coventry does show/reflect the Cities people from the characters portrayed.

Brilliant 10/10 excellent up and coming new cast of actors.

As someone who grew up with Grange Hill, I was excited to see this school drama on BBC but to be honest I wasn't expecting much from Phoenix Rise. Wow, was I wrong.

With a dazzling young cast who had me rooting for for them from the first time I saw them - and occasionally screaming (I'm talking about Summer (Lauren Corah) and Billy (Alex Draper) and their will they won't they get together) - this was an engrossing watch. Every character is a strong one.

The adults in the cast also impressed with Mr Stewart the headteacher who we first see spray painting a mural on the school wall and counsellor Becky the standouts.

The stories were very much of our time like Billy who's bringing up his sister alone despite being 15 visiting a food bank for the first time, but the old spectre of bullying was there too.

After the first series I'm really looking forward to seeing more from this talented bunch.

A very impressive debut from all concerned.