It's hard to believe that the first time Little Britain burst onto our screens was 11 years ago! Since then, as well as his comedy partner Matt Lucas, David Walliams has become a household name. In 2012 he became a judge on Britain's Got Talent.
Last year David returned to comedy with Big School, a sitcom which he wrote and starred in. The sitcom did very well indeed and averaged 3.8m on BBC One. So it's no surprise that the BBC recommissioned Big School, and this week it returns for a second series and it's the start of a new year at Greybridge School.
It may be start of a new year, but the teaching staff are as dysfunctional as ever and there are even more dysfunctional characters joining for the new term. But don't fear, because all your favourite characters are back for series two, including Mr Church (David Walliams), Miss Postern (Catherine Tate) and Mr Trevor Gunn (Philip Glenister), Mrs Janine Klebb (Joanna Scanlan), Ms M Baron (Frances De La Tour), Mr Luke Martin (Daniel Rigby) and Mr Barber (Steve Speirs).
So who are the new faces we'll be meeting this term? First up there's Jimmy Akingbola (Rev) who plays the new geography teacher Dr Dalton, who happens to be blind and is first introduced in the second episode. Jimmy is a brilliant character actor, Mick in Rev was brilliant and from what I've seen of Dr Dalton he's done it again.
Morgana Robinson appears in the first episode as children’s author Fenella Forbes and we also meet Jo, the lab technician who is played by Cheryl Fergison (EastEnders).
Later on in the series we also get to meet new pupil Dean who is played by Britain's Got Talent finalist Jack Caroll who of course David met whilst judging the talent show.
When asked about working with Jack, David has said that he was "...perfect to play a kid in this series and he was really funny. Myself and the Dawson Brothers wrote the part with him in mind and we had a lot of fun writing material for him."
"Jack will appear a little later in the series and I don’t want to give too much away as he plays quite a surprising part! I’ve stayed in touch with Jack and his mum ever since Britain’s Got Talent and I am delighted that he wanted to be part of the series."
A running theme throughout the first series was Mr Church's love for Miss Postern, and this continues this series. Although having had a disastrous date over the summer holidays where they each turned up at two different branches of Bella Italia things don't exactly begin well this term and Mr Church has a lot of work to do to win her back, and at the start of the series we see Mr Church making excuses to try and claw her back.
It's rare for a comedy to work on BBC One these days, very few have made in the past few years, Miranda and Mrs Brown's Boys being the exception to the rule, even though even they aren't widely loved. There are a lot of elements working well here especially the mix of David Walliams' writing with such an impressive cast list which includes; David Walliams, Catherine Tate, Phillip Glenister, Frances De La Tour and Jimmy Akingbola.
Will there be a third series? I hope so, because BBC One really need a channel-defining comedy that's widely loved, and I really do believe that Big School is that comedy. After all, who doesn't love a bit of Walliams and Tate on a Friday night? And they've proved after series one that they're able to bring it back and make it, if not just as brilliant... even more brilliant!
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