Channel 4's Educating Yorkshire to return with new 'reimagination'
Cameras are set to return to Thornhill Community Academy for a new season in 2025.
Ten years after Educating Yorkshire finished airing on Channel 4, and four years after the last Educating series aired, the broadcaster is reportedly returning for a new run in 2025.
The new season, going by the working title of Educating Yorkshire 2025, will reportedly see cameras return to Thornhill Community Academy, and will follow the current headteacher, Mr Burton, as well as his staff and students.
Mr Burton was a favourite among viewers of the previous season, as he was seen working alongside his student Musharaf to help him overcome his stammer.
The show's co-creator David Clews told Broadcast that it will be a "reimagination", adding: "We don’t want to feel like we’re telling the same stories the same way.
"Creatively, we’ll still use the fixed rig in the way that we did before and follow the stories in an unobtrusive way. But we’ve got ambition for this to look and feel bigger and better than ever before."
He also spoke about the topics the new season will tackle, saying: "We’ve always celebrated the good work that teachers and all the staff do in the schools, and we definitely want to be able to do that again, but through the lens of 2025.
"We want to look at that bigger question of 'what is modern Britain?' through the eyes of a school that we all know and love."
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Meanwhile, commissioner Rita Daniels said: "Telling the complex story of young people in Britain in 2025 is crucial for Channel 4, and what better way to do so than through this iconic, much-loved school? It will be fantastic to see Mr Burton in charge, and I look forward to watching him seize the reigns with full gusto.
"Much has changed for British teenagers since we were last at Thornhill Academy, and it will be fascinating to see how practices have developed and adapted since the burgeoning impact of social media, the COVID epidemic and the intense pressure to deliver good results."
It is said that Thornhill Community Academy, which has become part of an academy trust since the original run, is "on the up", but that Burton and his staff still face challenges, such as the rise in teenage anxiety, the national attendance crisis, the influence of phones and social media and difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers.
The first Educating series, Educating Essex, aired in 2011, and was followed by versions of the show in Yorkshire, the East End and Cardiff, as well as two in Greater Manchester.
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