Teachers

The First time Andrew Lincoln came to British Screens, was in the cult TV show "This Life" in which he played a quirky, neurotic and often confused lawyer. The reason the two series of "This life" were so good was due to the rich array of characters who played off one another so nicely, and a strong story line that was fast paced, witty and realistic.

Teacher's feels like it was written as a vehicle to show case the strongest characteristics of Lincoln's character in "This life". His character, Simon, in teachers is even more neurotic and confused about life than Egg was. On paper this sounds like it runs the risk of type-casting Lincoln and ruining the show from the out set. In reality Lincoln manages to pull it off; in fact he does so, so superbly that he avoids all the clichés and pitfalls and really shines.

While Andrew Lincoln twinkles his socks off, the rest of the cast refuse to be out done, Raquel Cassidy and nina Sosanya who play susan and jenny Respectively, do so subtly if not sublimely again avoiding the clichés, and Simon's two slobby mates (also teachers) Brian and Kurt played by Adrian Bower and Navin Chowdhry, provide the perfect foil for Simons ever growing neurosis.

At the end of the day, Teachers again has a strong storyline with a lot of fast paced humour and wit, while maintaining a degree of realism and showing teaching from both sides of the black board, teachers has all the potential and as I'm sure time will show has all the makings of a cult show in it's own right.

When I sat down to watch this show I did it with low expectations as (although I hate to admit it) British series of recent years have not been up to scratch. Instead I have enjoyed watching American series such as 'The West Wing', 'Ally McBeal' and 'ER'. However I was pleasantly surprised by 'Teachers'. As well as being incredibly funny, this show is realistic.

It shows the everyday life of a twenty -something secondary school teacher, Simon, who everyone would love as their teacher as he doesn't seem to want to grow up. We see how he copes with teaching his rowdy class and how he gets on with his workmates. There's Jenny, the teacher who has a reputation for being a bit of a dragon and shows obvious contempt for Simon, which he returns equally (although he has a secret crush on her). There's his two slobby mates who are also teachers and there's his friend Susan who is the head of year and who he consults for advice on his personal life. He also has an on-off relationship with policewoman Maggie (who smokes pot when she's off duty). In my opinion it's unmissable.

Teachers made a welcome return for a third season this week on channel 4.

I think Andrew Lincoln was wise to take a brake from the starring role this series, as his character had become whiney and his mannerisms beginning to grate. Although he did direct some this season and returns towards the end.

The first episode was business as usual with the new characters from last season plus a couple of others grown into their roles. Susan is gone and will be missed as the mentor in the group, but with Simon gone there would have been little for her to do.

The main ingredients remain such as the great humour at the expense of anyone the script sees fit, including some very unfair jokes at the expense of a little fat kid thats going bald, that are hilarious, and the excellent soundtrack (Feeder rock)

Adrian bower handles his new job as lead well, evolving from the confused teacher that thought maybe he could do more that was the butt of so many jokes previously.

All in all the show is still going strong, the storylines, while not earthshattering are still strong and I hope this goes on for a while longer.

Our television guide described this show as a British version of Ally McBeal, with the big difference that the setting isn't a fancy lawyers office but a rundown school. And that's the thing that is so great about this show; it doesn't glamorize anything. Its Protagonist, 26- year old Simon, is a shallow minded antihero, selfish to the core. He's using people to fulfill his own desperate needs, trying to avoid every responsibility if something goes wrong. Then there is Susan, his emotional female buddy, trying to be strict and decisive but with the tendency to have a turbulent inner life. Add Brian and Kurt, two teachers that behave as a pair of 13-year olds, to the mix and you have a very funny show. I also adored the at the surface ice cold Jenny Page. She has that kind of cool and distant beauty that some women have. I truly believe that a woman like her can make a man like Simon mad.

This is how I want to see a comedy show; realistic, filled with dark humor and, most importantly, having a good balance between seriousness and wackiness. You start to loved its flawed yet charismatic characters.

This show is so refreshing and good. First two seasons were terrific, the rest not so much. This happens with a lot of shows when they change the main cast - it just feels like a different show. They've written out characters and gave us unsatisfactory explanations (in some cases no explanation at all) for their absence. I've seen only a few episodes from series 3 and 4 so this review is focused on the first two series.

Simon and Susan were great characters. I could easily identify with them 'cause I work in school and I share some of Simon's attitudes towards students and my colleagues often come to me with their problems - that makes me feel overwhelmed at times, just like Susan.

The relationship between colleagues is warm and close. I like the fact that they could talk about a lot of topics, including silly conversations. They hang out after work, get involved in pranks and some of them are flatmates. The only character I didn't like from the beginning was Jenny, but eventually she warmed up to me. It's a shame that the main cast wasn't there 'till the end, but at least we got two excellent series with them. It's a fun watch, I guess that the young teachers will like it a lot.