The team behind BBC2 documentary series Hospital is taking on schools next
Producers explain why they want to offer a similar portrait of modern Britain... but from the perspective of education
The current series of BBC2 factual series Hospital gripped viewers last week with an astonishing opening episode that captured footage of the aftermath of the horrific Westminster Bridge terror attack.
But it has gained a following for providing an insight into the more day-to-day, but no less significant, stories of patients and the medical staff who treat them at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.
Now the same production team at Label1 Television that makes Hospital have been asked to adopt the same approach with a new series set in a school.
Called, fittingly, School, it will aim to offer a snapshot of the complex realities of modern British education, including the pressures faced by staff serving the public with tight budgets just like in the medical profession.
Budget discussions, scenes shot in teachers' homes, Ofsted inspections and PTA meetings will all feature, as the school faces tough choices on issues like class sizes and the demands of the curriculum.
The producers are currently talking to various educational establishments who may want to participate.
“It promises to be quite revealing,” executive producer Simon Dickson – who has overseen the first two series of Hospital – told RadioTimes.com.
“Educating our kids is extraordinarily important and, after the provision of healthcare which we have been exploring in Hospital, is probably the thing people would want their tax money to be spent on.
"People are very hungry to earn about how our most important public services are financed and run.”
BBC2 controller Patrick Holland added: "The story of what is happening in the nation's schools is both urgent and hugely important. Label1 has shown with Hospital that they are able to explore the big issues of the day with brilliant storytelling and a compelling sense of drama. Filmed over a year, this series will have a very different form, but shares the ambition of Hospital to be must-watch television."
The six-part series is due to air next year.
