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Channel 5 drama The Teacher<\/a> is set to take this week by storm when it airs across four consecutive evenings.<\/p>\n Sheridan Smith stars as teacher Jenna, whose chaotic life is turned upside down after she is accused of sleeping with one of her students. A preview exclusive to RadioTimes.com<\/a> teased what\u2019s in store for the drama<\/a>,\u00a0which Smith herself said makes for \u201cincredibly uncomfortable viewing\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n The actress has now revealed what drew her to accept the role, saying she couldn\u2019t put the scripts down when she first received them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d all been in lockdown, I\u2019d had my son and I\u2019d been reading lots of different scripts,\u201d she explained. \u201cThen this one came along and I was gripped. Jenna is such a complex character, there are so many layers to her and I love the fact that you don\u2019t know if she\u2019s telling the truth or not.\u201d<\/p> She added: \u201cAll these twists and turns came along in the story that I did not expect, and I couldn\u2019t put it down, which is rare \u2013 I read it all in one go. I really wanted to do the show \u2013 initially the dates weren\u2019t working, but I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about this script. Things moved around so it didn\u2019t clash anymore, and it felt like a sign.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith also discussed how roles written for women can be \u201cquite bland\u201d.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI love playing people who are flawed and complex like Jenna. She\u2019s got a drink problem, she\u2019s lost her mum, has a really strained relationship with her dad and she has just gone off the rails and lost herself a bit.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen she finishes work, she clocks out and has a chaotic life. I always want to make a character likeable because I want to find the heart in them, no matter how flawed someone is, but I do want the audience to doubt Jenna and to feel unsure about where they stand \u2013 it\u2019s exciting to play that in a role.\u201d<\/p>\n Jenna is not the only intriguing character Smith is playing this year. In ITV\u2019s upcoming drama No Return<\/a>, she plays Kathy, the mother of a teenager accused of a terrible crime while on holiday in Turkey.<\/p>\n The Teacher will launch on Channel 5 on Monday 31st January at 9pm with all four episodes being stripped across the week.<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking for something else to watch? Plan your viewing with our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our dedicated\u00a0Drama<\/a> hub for the latest news.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n By Lidia Molina-Whyte Published: Monday, 31 January 2022 at 12:00 am Channel 5 drama The Teacher is set to take this week by storm when it airs across four consecutive evenings. Sheridan Smith stars as teacher Jenna, whose chaotic life is turned upside down after she is accused of sleeping with one of her students. 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Sheridan Smith stars as teacher Jenna, whose chaotic life is turned upside down after she is accused of sleeping with one of her students.…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/10541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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