Ackley Bridge
Ackley Bridge is a British comedy-drama series set in a multicultural academy school of the same name, that began broadcasting on Channel 4 from 7 June 2017. The school is set in the fictional Yorkshire mill town of Ackley Bridge. A second series of twelve episodes was then announced, broadcasting from 5 June to 21 August 2018.
After a third series consisting of eight episodes was broadcast from 18 June 2019 to 6 August 2019, Ackley Bridge was renewed for a fourth series, consisting of ten 30-minute episodes. While the fourth series was originally set to air in September 2020, filming has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overview
In early 2017, Channel 4 announced The ABC, a new six-part school drama. The series follows the merger of two schools in a segregated British and Pakistani community due to budget cuts, exploring "the turbulent school experience, covering the challenges of prejudice and cultural issues in the school environment, as well as the humour, relationships and conflict had by the pupils, teachers and parents." St Catherine's Catholic High School in Halifax is used as Ackley Bridge College. The show was later renamed Ackley Bridge.Following the Manchester Arena bombing, the first episode was re-edited prior to airing as there were scenes showing "a troubled student strap a fake bomb to himself in order to disrupt the merging of a predominantly white and a predominantly Asian school." A spokesperson said "In light of the tragic events in Manchester, the first episode of forthcoming drama series Ackley Bridge is being re-edited."
Ahead of the first series premiere, additional content from the show was shared on Snapchat for "high school age characters to tell their stories in the way young people are" to introduce the characters. Further episodes will "be subsidised with additional videos that will help build the world outside of the allocated TV broadcast."
Cast
Episodes
Production and casting
The cast, main and supporting, are a mix of experienced and trained actors, as well as street cast actors.Former EastEnders actors Jo Joyner and Paul Nicholls received the parts of married couple Mandy Carter, the headteacher of Ackley Bridge College and Steve Bell, a PE teacher. Joyner describes Mandy as "career driven", who has "worked so hard over the years to get to the level she's at." Joyner adds she likes the fact her character is not interested in having children. Despite her character being "organised and driven in her business life she's not at all organised or in control at home."
Amy-Leigh Hickman, known for playing Carmen Howle in Tracy Beaker Returns and The Dumping Ground, plays Nasreen Paracha, daughter of Kaneez, who she describes as a "quieter and tamer" student, as well as "intelligent", but "ballsy." She felt comfortable acting scenes with Poppy Lee Friar, best known for playing Eve in Eve, who plays best friend Missy, due to having a friendship in real life. Friar says she loves portraying Missy, who she describes as "sassy, saucy and a survivor." Television newcomers Nazmeen Kausar Hussain and Esa Ashraf play Razia and Saleem Paracha, Kaneez's two other children.
Maariah Hussain and Samuel Bottomley, both students at Yorkshire School of Acting in Bradford, were cast as Alya Nawaz and Jordan Wilson respectively. Hussain described her character as "super intelligent, fiercely righteous, and a bit of a mean girl", who is also "insecure as any teenage girl" but "has ambitions to run her own business, like her father, but struggles to make him see she's capable of it." Jordan is billed as "badly behaved and not fazed by getting into trouble", however "he's bright and a talented artist, but thinks school is pointless." Matt Zina, principal of Hussain and Bottomley's acting school said Ackley Bridge is Hussain's first role and "she has taken to it like a duck to water. She has loved being part of a major TV series and was excited to be working with some of the big-name actors involved" and he called Bottomley an "exciting young actor." Cody Ryan got the part of Hayley Booth through an acting workshop at her school, Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College, which was run by Beverley Keogh casting agency. Students from Trinity Academy, North Halifax Grammar School, The Crossley Heath School and Calderdale College feature in the series.
In the second series, Tony Jayawardena was cast as Rashid Hyatt, a science teacher at Ackley Bridge College, and a love interest of Kaneez. Adam Fielding appeared as Aaron Turner, the half-brother of Nasreen, as well as Jay Saighal in the role of Javid Shah, the short-lived deputy head. Megan Parkinson was then cast in the role of Sam Murgatroyd, a love interest of Nasreen. Vicky Entwistle and Kimberley Walsh also guest starred in the second series, as Sandra Turner and Claire Butterworth, respectively.
For the third series, several new roles were cast, including Rob James-Collier, Charlie Hardwick, Phoebe Tuffs-Berry, Zara Salim, Hareet Deol and Ty Glaser in regular roles. Antonio Aakeel, Natalie Gavin and James Atherton, amongst others, also joined the series in recurring roles.
In December 2019, Ackley Bridge was renewed for a fourth series, and it was announced that the series would face an overhaul, including cast changes and the runtime changing from 60 minutes to 30 minutes. On the runtime being shortened, commissioning executive Rebecca Holdsworth stated " not only reflects the viewing habits of our young audience, but gives the show a new look and feel as we welcome a brand new cast of characters to our screens".
Reception
Since the series was announced, Ackley Bridge has been compared to the BBC school drama, Waterloo Road, with Duncan Lindsay from Metro opining that "Channel 4 have been crying out for a solid drama to fit into the early night slot" and that there has been a lack of a "solid school based drama", stating that Ackley Bridge "follows the trials and tribulations of an academy which has merged two different communities together." The series has also been compared to BBC's other long-running school drama series, Grange Hill, as Michael Hogan from The Guardian stated "it could be described as Grange Hill with a mobile phone and a northern accent."Sam Wollaston from The Guardian said the character of Jordan Wilson, played by Sam Bottomley, "is the best character at Ackley Bridge – smart, offensive to everyone, the school wind-up merchant, who also represents a pessimistic but realistic view that such attempts at integration are futile." He added that the "teachers aren't a whole lot better than they kids" due to the situations, such as the love triangle between Mandy Carter, Steve Bell and Sadiq Nawaz, played by Jo Joyner, Paul Nicholls and Adil Ray respectively and Steve hitting Jordan, but said it "was a teeny bit justified." He described Liz White's character, Emma Keane, as "a hippy-dippy flippy-floppy backpacker." The show has also been thought of as a Waterloo Road and Shameless mix and the social media aspect is seen as "savvy." He also added that the show raised questions "about whether total integration is possible, even necessary, both in school and out of school. That side of things is handled carefully and sensitively. Real issues aren't avoided, cultural differences aren't denied; at the same time, obvious and boring stereotypes are avoided. If that makes it sound worthy, it really isn't. It's pleasingly loud and mischievous. Well, it's school, of course it is. As well as boobs, Ackley Bridge has balls. And a heart."
Poppy Lee Friar and Cody Ryan received praise from viewers in the fourth episode of series one, where the episode revolved around Missy dealing with the death of Julia Booth, played by Rita May, which leads to Hayley being placed in care. Viewers also praised scenes of Lila Sharif, played by Anneika Rose, coming out as lesbian to her students.