comedy

1. B322 exam - Section B = TV Comedy
8 lessons

2. Bad Education
• British TV comedy sitcom
• Produced by Tiger Aspect Productions
• BBC Three
• Written by Jack Whitehall and Freddy Syborn
• Stars
– Jack Whitehall
• Prev comedy = stand up / regular comedy panellist / Fresh
Meat
– Mathew Horne
• Prev comedy = Gavin and Stacey
– Range of other side-characters

3. Bad Education
• School-based comedy focused on the worst
teacher ever to be involved in the British
education system
• Originally aired in August 2012
• 3 series – 19 episodes
• Episode we’ll be studying:
– Series 1 episode 1 – Parents evening (10 pm Aug
2012)
– 2nd most popular comedy in that time slot across
terrestrial channels

4. Bad Education
• Alfie is a teacher at a British school. He has the best
intentions for his class, but the truth is he is a bigger
kid than any of the kids he teaches. His good intentions
always seem to end up out the window.
• Despite his obvious shortcomings, Alfie’s position at
the school is stable thanks to Fraser, the school’s
headmaster, who tragically longs to be as cool as Alfie.
• He’s the teacher who just wants everyone’s to be ‘best
mate’ and is prone to massive and very public mishaps.

5. Bad Education
Based on the
description of Bad
Education and its
characters, what
audience pleasures
might you expect?

6. Bad Education
Based on the
description of Bad
Education and its
characters, what do
you think the target
audience is?

7. Bad Education
• Watch the episode ‘Fundraising’
• While you’re watching you should make notes
on:
– Key plot events that take place in the episode
– What audience pleasures you are actually getting
from the programme
– Who you think the target audience is based on
watching the episode

8. Bad Education
Audience
pleasures?
Target
audience?
Key plot
points?

9. Bad Education
• Practice question:
Demonstrate how Bad Education offers
their audience different pleasures (15
marks).
15 mins