The Teacher (2022)

Watchseries; Channel 5 have made some good dramas lately - but this isn't one of them. Normally excellent Sheridan Smith plays a teacher accused of having sex with one of her 15 year old pupils after a drunken night out.

Production values were OK but nothing special, lots of strange filters... If you're trying to work out the location it was shot in Budapest but set in Bradford.

The show had a few problems for me. The setup and pacing was very slow and the storyline was dull with lots of clunky dialogue. Characters were all one-dimensional including the 24-hour party protagonist Jenna who I failed to bond with.

Plot had a lot of loopholes, behaviour of the Head to her after she's been accused, police arresting her so quickly, her solicitor who seemed to have taken a vow of silence etc. Acting by the cast wasn't great all round and no-one shone through, even Smith was below par. Won't be back for more, there's better out there.

Channel 5 have made some good dramas lately - but this isn't one of them. Normally excellent Sheridan Smith plays a teacher accused of having sex with one of her 15 year old pupils after a drunken night out.

Production values were OK but nothing special, lots of strange filters... If you're trying to work out the location it was shot in Budapest but set in Bradford.

The show had a few problems for me. The setup and pacing was very slow and the storyline was dull with lots of clunky dialogue. Characters were all one-dimensional including the 24-hour party protagonist Jenna who I failed to bond with.

Plot had a lot of loopholes, behaviour of the Head to her after she's been accused, police arresting her so quickly, her solicitor who seemed to have taken a vow of silence etc. Acting by the cast wasn't great all round and no-one shone through, even Smith was below par. Won't be back for more, there's better out there.

The Teacher watchseries. Yet another vehicle for Sheridan Smith to show off her one character. It's the same whatever she does. Let's give some other actors a chance at drama roles. It dilutes the drama and the story. She's an ok actress but shoehorn king her into any role is just a cliche now. Kate Mara played out of character in the US version . Smith always plays the girl next door character, but not a teacher. That's just pushing it a bit too much. The story itself is very good. The sexual tension is palpable. The supporting cast do a great job. It's just wasted by giving Smith this role. There is a point where the same actor appears on the screen so many times, it makes it all unbelievable.

Sheridan Smith is an outstanding actress. She can take on any role. In this drama she made the best of what was, essentially, a very poor script with many flaws.. However I found it to be watchable if only for her excellent performance.

Sheridan Smith once again showing us what a great actress she is . Her character is a teacher who is accused of sexually abusing one of her students but did she or not ? Great story and worth watching .

I'll start by saying I'll watch Sheridan Smith in pretty much anything, I think she's enormously talented, whether it's drama, comedy or musicals and she didn't disappoint me in this. An actress can only be as good as the script and this has flaws she can't be blamed for. She plays a teacher who teaches older boys and girls. Because she's attractive to a lot of guys, the older boys often fancy her so a revengeful mysterious person who we don't see for a long time, grooms one of the older boys to accuse her of sleeping with him. She's asked by the police when arrested if she has any enemies and can't think of one and caves in to the accusation, believing it to be true as she was drunk at the time and can't remember what happened. By the end of the series, it struck me as a serious flaw in the script as I can't believe she would not have considered the eventual villain as being a possible person responsible. Without giving a spoiler I can only say that the woke ending seemed completely unbelievable which rather ruined an otherwise enjoyable series. Sheridan is clearly too sexy in her mannerisms to be teaching older boys and I can see why they would be flustered by her but I still think it's a compelling performance unlike a lot of reviews. I'll make a mention of Ian Poulston-Davies who some viewers may remember from Coronation Street or Tin Star who I think gets better with each performance I see him in.

I am not sure why people are leaving series reviews here when they haven't watched the full series but the reviews are quite accurate.

It starts well with Sheridan Smith catching the eye in short skirts and heels but this eye catching doesn't cover the cracks later in the series as her legs disappear for a couple of episodes.

Scenes which were obviously filmed in Budapest rather than Bradford are a bit off-putting and Sheridan Smith's teeth were annoying at times (has she had dentures put in or is it just for this character? She didn't have them in Four Lives so we will have to wait for No Return next week to find out).

Kelvin Fletcher receives second billing here but doesn't appear that much. More scenes together might have been an improvement.

Even the dark and mysterious Ian Puleston-Davies can't really bring his real depth to a sadly lacking storyline.

I don't watch much on Channel 5 apart from All Creatures Great And Small and this won't encourage me to watch it again in a hurry.