Bromwell High
Bromwell High, Channel 4’s latest animation adventure due to be screened next Friday at 11.20, has drawn criticism from John Beyer of Mediawatch-UK. The cartoon follows the exploits of three naughty teenage girls, their underpaid teachers, and a headmaster who won the school in a bet.
The naughtiness of the schoolgirls is the aspect which troubles our smut-hating hero most of all:
I feel that if they are going to be portraying that sort of behaviour in a cartoon it will trivialise problems in society. I think it’s ill conceived and typical of Channel 4 when there is such concern about delinquent and behaviour among young people.
Anil Gupta, the producer, responds:
It’s a comedy. Maybe they should lighten up.
British animated comedy is rarely funny and attracts low audiences; if Mr Beyer was smart he would keep his mouth shut and wait for it to slide into obscurity. Sadly, he’s not.
It would be too much to ask for John Beyer to wait and see this programme for himself before he passes judgement.
Oh no, far too eager to deliver a typically scornful quote to the press!
It sounds as if this show will be in the South Park mould, poking fun and making satire out of the problems of everyday life and of the people and organisations that cause them.
Sometimes comedy is the best way to expose and generate debate about many of the things wrong with our society, particularly with the actions of young people, their parents and the education system.
South Park did that brilliantly by mocking the overtly politcally correct way children are taught in American schools. Watch episodes such as Sexual Harrasment Pander, Cartman’s Silly Little Hate Crime and The Death Camp Of Tolerance to see what I mean.
It seems as if Bromwell High will take a deserved pop at the education system of Britain and of the way children are taught in British schools.
Yet it seems Beyer would prefer comedy writers to shy away from tackling difficult topics through fear of “trivalising” them. I am afraid that’s just wimpish!
I would never have thought to watch that. I’ll put it in my Sky+ planner now. Thanks Mr Beyer! 😉
At least Beyer’s grammar is slowly improving. Only one glaring error in two sentences.
I caught a bit of it the other night, and it looked pretty good.
Having seen a whole episode last weekend, it’s actually rather shite, but fairly good in parts
Of course this is an appalling programme, not suitable for children or adultsof a polite disposition: unfortunately, it is a disturbingly accurate portrayal of the reality of many of the UK’s large urban comprehensive school.
It is very funny, but even more upsetting because so much of it is true.
Disturbingly accurate? A headteacher who runs a poker school during the school day and offers to pay the shady gangsters he’s playing with in gym equipment? A deputy head who makes Livia (from I Claudius) seem like barney the dinosaur.
It’s not suitable for anyone to watch, because there’s a million different ways of better spending one’s time than watching this.
Just about comes close enough to representing St Ursula’s convent school, SE10!