Director Dominic Leclerc (The Syndicate<\/a>, Bulletproof) said that while the premise of The Teacher is \u201ca fiction drama\u201d,\u00a0 he \u201cdid a lot of research across a whole range of real-life incidents\u201d, scanning the internet for comparable incidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m also from a family of teachers,\u201d he continued. \u201cMy mum was Head of English at a secondary school in Bradford where the series is set, my sister is a teacher and my best friend works at a college in Bradford, so I spoke to them a lot. They\u2019ve experienced a whole range of complex issues with students, so it was good to get their perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo of my cousins work in social care in Bradford too, so I talked to them as part of my research. We came at the project from a range of different directions to make it as real as possible and our writer [Motherland\u2019s] Barunka [O\u2019Shaughnessy] did her own research too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leclerc added: \u201cWe wanted to be informed. The last thing we wanted was to grab viewers via salacious taboos. We wanted to approach the story through character, to make this a nuanced, subtle exploration of the subject matter. There\u2019s complex terrain here that brings up issues about grooming, consent, power, accountability, and boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The importance of handling this story in an \u201cinformed\u201d manner was echoed by creator Mike Benson (The Madame Blanc Mysteries<\/a>, Cold Call): \u201cWe knew the gravity of the subject matter and it\u2019s not something we approached lightly or without the necessary research and advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galg\u00f3czi N\u00e9meth Krist\u00f3f \/ Chalkboard TV<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
You don\u2019t have to look far to find real-life cases that the cast and crew could have drawn on for their research. Just a few days ago, it was reported that a teacher at a private school in Bournemouth was found not guilty of sexually assaulting one of his pupils. In another case, a former PE teacher at a school in Kent was jailed for grooming and sexually abusing a student.<\/p>\n
Smith highlighted the contrast between the many factual dramas she\u2019s appeared in, such as Mrs Biggs and Cilla<\/a>, and The Teacher, where she \u201ccan\u2019t rely on any footage of Jenna\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got to make her believable in my own way, which is exciting and a different kind of discipline,\u201d she explained. \u201cI do love doing the factual dramas, but it\u2019s really nice to play something made up.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she did research \u201csome similar real-life cases\u201d to help her tap into the material: \u201cThere was one quite recent case I read about, which is obviously very different to our story, but it helped me, and the production team have done their research too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Teacher airs on Channel 5 across four consecutive nights from Monday 31st January. <\/strong>Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our dedicated\u00a0 Drama<\/a>\u00a0hub for the latest news.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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