Sheridan Smith says The Teacher is “incredibly uncomfortable viewing”
The BAFTA winner has said that viewers "won't know" whether they like her character Jenna or not.
Sheridan Smith has said that her upcoming role in The Teacher will make viewers "incredibly uncomfortable", with the BAFTA winner playing a teacher accused of having sex with a student in the Channel 5 drama.
Smith stars in the four-part series, which begins on Monday next week, as Jenna Garvey – an English teacher who tries to prove her innocence when it is alleged that she slept with 15-year-old student Kyle (Ackley Bridge's Samuel Bottomley).
Speaking about her character in The Teacher, Smith said that Jenna foolishly lets the teacher-student boundaries slip at school.
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"I think she is a bit naïve. She's on a mission to save working class kids because that’s where her mum comes from, and she really hates the fact that privileged kids can get further in life," she said. "She tries to be a mate to her students, which is her undoing in the end. There are teacher-student boundaries and she has maybe let that slip.
"And then of course her life outside of the classroom is chaotic. I really hope people don't know what to think about her. There were scenes where I was thinking, ‘This is so terrible, you'd be fired immediately'."
She added: "Her actions didn't sit right with me, but I enjoyed playing them as well. It will make incredibly uncomfortable viewing and you won’t know if you like her or not."
The drama is set to air over four consecutive nights starting from Monday, with Kelvin Fletcher, Cecilia Noble and Sharon Rooney also part of The Teacher cast.
The Teacher will launch on Channel 5 on Monday 31st January at 9pm with all four episodes being stripped across the week.
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