Educating Yorkshire 2025: Channel 4 series to make comeback a decade after its initial release
The Channel 4 series Educating Yorkshire is making a comeback next year a decade after it first aired.
Educating Yorkshire first aired 10 years ago and attracted millions of viewers every week who watched the students and staff of Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury in their unfiltered glory experiencing the highs and lows at a 21st century secondary school.
The series won a BAFTA and Emma award and most famously followed year 11 student Musharaf, who was supported and helped by his inspirational English teacher Mr Burton and triumphed in miraculous fashion over his stammer.
Following on from the legacy of Educating Yorkshire but in a wholly new reinvention of the brand, Thornhill is opening its doors to cameras once more to tell the stories of modern Britain through the eyes of one school. Things have changed over the past decade, for the school and for the country.
Mr Burton has moved up to being in charge of Thornhill, in his first role as headteacher. But his wit and sparkle remain just the same. He has the support of a new team of staff, he has a lot of responsibilities and the school has vastly improved but, like all schools in Britain, there are challenges faced.
Challenges include a rising level of teenage anxiety, exam and friendship pressures, a national attendance crisis and the impact of mobile phones and social media. On a national level, the profession is enduring a tough period too and it is harder than ever to recruit new teachers, across the country nearly a third leave the job within five years.
Viewers will watch as the staff and students of Thornhill navigate the joys and challenges of secondary school life. As the staff guide the students and their storylines crossover and intertwine, the result will be a series which speaks to a bigger picture of how you grow up, survive and thrive in today’s Britain.
The series will be made by Twofour for Channel 4’s Alisa Pomeroy and Rita Daniels and will be filmed over 2024 and 2025 and aims to be on screens by the end of next year.
Educating Yorkshire proved itself to be one of Channel 4’s best performing factual shows with streaming audiences and its return is part of the broadcaster’s Fast Forward strategy to speed up Channel 4’s transformation into a public service streamer.
Commissioning editor, 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.”
Twofour chief creative director, David Clews, said: “Making the Educating series was a highlight of my career and I couldn’t be happier to be going back to a school we know and love to make something brand new and reflective of the world we live in today.
“Schools and young people deserve an honest and joyful portrayal on our screens and we can’t wait to work with a brilliant team to create that.”
Headteacher at Thornhill, Mr Burton, said: “I’m excited to welcome Twofour back into our school over the coming months.
“The national challenges the profession faces are well publicised, and at Thornhill, I’m really proud of how our staff and students work together to thrive through those.
“Our values - ‘work hard and be nice’ - are at the centre of all we do; I have no doubt that viewers will see those come to life in our brilliant community.”
The series will be filled with humour, heart and humanity and as part of this production 4Skills will fund the training and development of a number of roles, working closely with Twofour to identify opportunities for Yorkshire-based talent to progress in different areas of the production.