Educating Essex

Did You Know?

• Over 60 cameras were installed on school premises, filming more than 1,000 hours of footage.
• The series was filmed in autumn because it was considered the most 'normal' part of the school year, when pupils were not revising for GCSE exams.

Production

The series was commissioned by Channel 4's commissioning editor for documentaries, Mark Raphael, after the channel allocated an extra £6.7 million to documentary programming in 2011. Raphael was inspired to create a school series after seeing a programme on the BBC that he found "quite dull", and he wanted to capture school as he remembered it. He chose director David Clews after watching The Family, which he found funny, a quality he wanted for the new series.

Clews was initially reluctant, thinking a school series would be boring, but changed his mind after visiting schools and encountering a pupil who tried to justify using his mobile phone by claiming he was checking for testicular cancer. Passmores Academy was selected from about 20 schools with good or outstanding Ofsted reports; many schools declined or had proposals blocked by governors, and the choice was narrowed to three. Clews stated that Passmores was always his favourite because he hoped for stories unfolding within the school.

He received support from most governors, particularly Community Governor Michael Hardware, who had documentary experience. Teacher Stephen Drew initially distrusted the crew, calling them "bastards" with "no morals", but began to trust them when they were honest and did not cut corners.

Themes

The series addresses heavy themes across its episodes. These include a false accusation of assault against teacher Mr Drew by a pupil named Camelita, a bullying case that escalates into cyberbullying against Gabby, a student named Vinni being taken into foster care, and Sky's teenage pregnancy with her boyfriend Liam. Other episodes focus on the power of gossip and rumours, Mr Drew's efforts to get sisters Mollie and Charlotte back on track academically, and the arrival of Ryan, a new student with Asperger syndrome, alongside the Year 11 leavers receiving their GCSE results.

Reception

According to BARB, Educating Essex averaged around 2 million viewers per episode, with a peak of 2.11 million for episode 4 and a low of 1.79 million for episode 2. Reviews were generally positive: Sam Wollaston of The Guardian called it "a lot more interesting than Jamie's Dream School" and compared it favourably to The Only Way Is Essex, describing it as a "pure, observational, unobtrusive documentary". Rachel Tarley of Metro praised the first episode as "giddily enjoyable" and called the show "the best thing on Channel 4 this year".

However, The Telegraph criticised the series and Passmores Academy for portraying participants in "an unflattering light", citing incidents where a teacher called pupils "scumbags", the head teacher used an offensive hand gesture, and staff used profane language. Nick Seaton of the Campaign for Real Education questioned the school's Ofsted rating, saying "If this is an outstanding school then it doesn't say much for the rest".

Awards

In 2012, Educating Essex was shortlisted for the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Documentary Series. Director David Clews won a British Academy Television Craft Award in the Director: Factual category, and the show was nominated for a BAFTA for Factual Series and the Audience Award. That same year, it won Best New Television Series at the Freesat Awards, and senior producer–director Grace Reynolds won the award for Producer or Director Debut at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. In 2013, the programme won Best Documentary Series at the Broadcast Awards and was nominated for the Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series.