Phoenix Rise

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.

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.

There are many school-based shows out there, and Phoenix Rise is in the top few for me.

I have watched many shows about schools, and I love them!

That is what drawed me to this series.

None of the episodes are bad and they all have twists and turns and ups and downs.

The characters are all very well-written. The main character Billy played by Alex Draper is a brilliantly written character and is portrayed excellently. As is the other teen actors, such as Lauren Corah playing Summer and Krish Bassi playing Khaled.

This drama covers a lot of topics. Season One focuses on Billy's home life, his mum dying, and his father leaving home as well as relationships in school.

In Season Two, there is a lot with blossoming friendships, fallouts, and new twists.

In Season Three, there are new characters introduced, along with the usual ones. They are Faith and Caleb, and they become part of the main cast. They are also excellently portrayed and they have their own storylines added to the series.

Faith has a lot to go through in the series as her character is built up, and there is tension between Caleb, Billy and Darcy.

The finale sees relationships blossoming too (I won't say any more)

As of me writing this, I am currently watching Season Four. I have watched the first three episodes of this season and it is going well.

Summer is having issues with her mum and Billy, and we have Billy going to court as well.

There is also a new Headteacher Mr Jacobs after the previous one left at the end of the last season.

Billy and friends have to come to grips with the Headteacher's new regime and it is a struggle for Billy because he had a close relationship with the previous Head Mr Stewart.

I am continuing to watch this season and I am sure there will be more twists and storylines built on.

All in all, Phoenix Rise is an excellent series and covers modern topics, including effects of AI. There is a lot going for it and it is an excellent series.

All of the actors are brilliant and they portray their roles well.

I am looking forward to watching more episodes of this show and I would definitely recommend it to anyone reading this.