The Timewasters Creator Is Back With A New Boarding School Dramedy

With the early summer release of Channel 4’s Big Boys, starring Derry Girls’ Dylan Llewellyn, and the continued success of Netflix’s Sex Education, we’re most definitely embracing a new era of coming-of-age comedy dramas. And now, BBC Three is also catching on. The network has recently commissioned Boarders, a new six-part series that will follow five underprivileged Black students as they navigate life after winning scholarships to an elite boarding school.

Boarders is the creation of British writer and actor Daniel Lawrence Taylor — who wrote and starred in ITV’s 2017 series Timewasters and was nominated at the BAFTA awards for Best Scripted Comedy and went on to win the Royal Television Society’s award for Best Breakthrough in 2018. Below, we have everything to know so far about Boarders.

Boarders Plot

Having lived in inner city London all their lives, five Black students step into a world, that they only thought possible in Harry Potter, when they move to a posh boarding school. Through each episode, the leads experience the highs and lows of this shiny, new life while they learn more about themselves and their identities outside of their adolescence.

Think the giddy ache from first crushes, fostering friendships, and of course, making enemies in peak high school fashion. The show aims to provide a glimpse into the experience of going to a top public school from a unique perspective. Despite being unfamiliar, the kids are hell bent to make space and prove themselves; who doesn’t love a good face off between insiders and outsiders?

And the makers of the show want the comedy-drama to reflect the signs of the time through comments on race, identity, and class. Taylor said in a BBC press statement, “As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to grow momentum, and the world is becoming more aware of Black struggles in white institutions, a show like Boarders has never been more relevant or ripe for comedy.”

Boarders Cast

Since the show has only just been confirmed by BBC Three, it’s yet to enter the casting stage. However, British production house Studio Lambert — that created award-winning drama Three Girls — will be producing Boarders.

Additionally, Taylor announced that he “bagged some of the most exciting Black British voices” to bring the show to the screen. This includes Yemi Oyefuwa, who was part of the writers’ room for BBC’s 2022 adaptation of Dolly Alderton’s memoir Everything I Know About Love.

She will also be joined by Ryan Calais Cameron, an author and actor who won the Stage Edinburgh Fringe Award in 2019 and Emma Dennis-Edwards, a performer and writer of Jamaican and Trinidadian heritage.

Boarders Release Date

The six-part series is set to enter production soon, so watch this space for more updates.