A popular BAFTA and Emmy-winning Channel 4 show is making its comeback as a ‘reimagination’ of the original programme, 10 years after it first hit screens.
Educating Yorkshire will see a camera crew return to Thornhill Community Academy for an insight into the lives of staff and students, a decade after the fly-on-the-wall documentary originally aired.
Every week, millions of Brits tuned in every week to keep up to date with the highs and lows of the Dewsbury secondary school.
Most famously, viewers were brought to tears watching Year 11 student Musharaf, with the help of his inspirational English teacher Mr Burton, triumph in miraculous fashion over his stammer.
Now, Thornhill is opening its doors once more, with a lot of things having changed in the past decade, for the school and for the country.
Educating Yorkshire is returning to screens with a ‘reimagined’ version of the iconic documentary, 10 years after it first hit screens (Mr Burton pictured)
Every week, millions of Brits tuned in every week to keep up to date with the highs and lows of Thornhill Community Academy
In the reboot, Mr Burton will remain on the show but has stepped up and is now in charge of Thornhill, in his first role as Head Teacher.
According to Channel 4, the programme will explore everything from a rising tide of teenage anxiety, to exam and friendship pressure, to a national attendance crisis and the impact of mobile phones and social media.
A description of the new series adds that it will see staff guide the students and their storylines criss-cross and intertwine – the result being a show which speaks to a bigger picture – of how you grow up, survive, and thrive in today’s Britain.
Made by Twofour for Channel 4’s Alisa Pomeroy and Rita Daniels, the series will be filmed over 2024/2025 and aims to be on our screens by the end of next year.
The return of Educating Yorkshire is part of the broadcaster’s Fast Forward strategy to accelerate Channel 4’s transformation into a public service streamer.
As filming kicks off, the working title of the reboot has been announced as Educating Yorkshire 2025.
Headteacher 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.’
Most famously, viewers were brought to tears watching Year 11 student Musharaf, with the help of his inspirational English teacher Mr Burton, triumph in miraculous fashion over his stammer
Meanwhile, Rita Daniels, Commissioning Editor, added: ‘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.’
The new show announcement comes after a long list of Channel 4 shows have been axed as the broadcaster struggles with cost-saving cuts.
It was most recently revealed that despite initial rumours of a second series being in the works and even talks of lining up Nigel Farage for the programme, Banged Up will not be returning to TV screens.
The series was so impactful that it even got nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Reality, losing out to Netflix’s Squid Game.
However, a second series of the project will now never materialise as the programme has been brutally axed as the latest in a string of cuts.
The channel have axed a string of shows this year and revealed back in January their plans to make hundreds of staff redundant.
The broadcaster will also leave their London HQ, the Horseferry Road office, which Channel 4 have been based out of since 1994, and find a new office elsewhere in London.
Despite initial rumours of a second series being in the works and even talks of lining up Nigel Farage for the programme, Banged Up will not be returning to TV screens
Danny Dyer’s popular show Scared of the Dark has also been axed after just one series despite its huge success
The channel has been forced to cancel a handful of programmes recently, including SAS: Who Dares Wins and Steph’s Packed Lunch (pictured), as part of efforts to reduce costs
In June, the closure of five channels were announced – The Box music channels 4Music, The Box, Kiss, Magic and Kerrang!
The channel has been forced to cancel a handful of programmes recently, including SAS: Who Dares Wins and Steph’s Packed Lunch, as part of efforts to reduce costs.
Danny Dyer’s popular show Scared of the Dark has also been axed after just one series despite its huge success.
The experimental TV show asked a whole host of famous faces to live in complete darkness for a week as they were tasked with various challenges.
Former footballer Paul Gascoigne was crowned the series winner after living eight days in complete darkness as he beat Love Island’s Chloe Burrows, ex boxer Chris Eubank and comedian Chris McCausland in the competition.
Despite raking in more than a million viewers, Channel 4 has decided against it returning for a second series, according to Deadline.
Meanwhile Channel 4’s Hollyoaks will also have fewer episodes airing each week from September.
The soap, which airs on streaming, E4 and YouTube will go down from five episodes per week to three.
The channel said that they were making the change because it is the ‘optimum pattern to keep heartland audiences hooked and attract new ones in a highly saturated content market’ based on Channel 4 data.
Meanwhile Channel 4’s Hollyoaks will also have fewer episodes airing each week from September (Malique Thompson Dwyer and Jennifer Metcalfe pictured on soap in 2021)