Thinking about that "game over" screen for more than it takes to read it.
- The guy "steals to keep his habit", but he is a seller. While selling and dealing aren't opposing ends, the fact that he must steal to keep his habit while dealing is very odd.
The sudden move in location
- When the filming of the series was outsourced to BBC Liverpool in 2003, the entire setting changed from a very realistic rendition of East London (not an area known for its wildlife) to a very green area. The effect was kind of jarring, and never remarked upon by any of the characters or indeed anyone at The BBC. I vaguely remember the previous season had burned down/blown up the school for some reason, but no amount of rebuilding could achieve that!
- Not only that, but it was of course impossible to mask the fact that, with production having moved to Liverpool, a lot of the new students appearing in the show from then on had Scouse Accents. The official line was that the show was not set in Liverpool, but a general "someplace in Britain". Liverpool itself was explicitly ruled out as one episode had a class taking a coach trip to Liverpool, the City Of Culture 2008, and they got there by driving up the motorway for a couple of hours....
- The early years also see the location work move a bit and sometimes the move from Brent to Fulham is particularly noticeable. The shift to work at Elstree is explained by the school merger and a fire taking out the original building but there are times when it's obvious they're now shooting outside London. Some of the off campus scenes such as shops and community centres also don't disguise how wide the location work is.
- Not only that, but it was of course impossible to mask the fact that, with production having moved to Liverpool, a lot of the new students appearing in the show from then on had Scouse Accents. The official line was that the show was not set in Liverpool, but a general "someplace in Britain". Liverpool itself was explicitly ruled out as one episode had a class taking a coach trip to Liverpool, the City Of Culture 2008, and they got there by driving up the motorway for a couple of hours....
The School Revue
- In series 5, the school hosts a revue, featuring many of the original series 1-2 cast as performers. While it doesn't make much narrative sense for people like Penny Lewis to perform, I can forgive it as it works as an effective send off for our original characters. However, the fact that most of the other performers are from the 2 other classes we've been focusing on (in a school of 15+ classes) is rather implausible. Somehow, Claire Scott, the girl with the overbearing mother is allowed to perform in front of 1,000+ people in tight jeans doing provocative moves??
The Staffing Issues
- Especially from the mid-90s onwards, the school seems to have far less teachers than it really should. In the original 5 or so series this is fine because we only really need to see the teachers that specifically teach the classes we focus on, but once the show progresses and teachers start to become bigger characters and staff room interaction is introduced, it becomes obvious that there is only like 8 teachers in this school of hundreds of kids??
- In the 1980s at least there's a reinforcement of various one-off teachers, extras and mentioned but unseen teachers though it does occasionally get noticeable that a particular subject is only ever shown being taught by another teacher standing in.
Coming-And-Going Kids
- While it couldn't be avoided, it does irk me quite a lot, the amount of kids that just... vanish between seasons. In the 1980 intake, only 2 of the original 7 kids introduced make it to the fifth year! Poor Tracy Edwards only makes it to the Christmas term. And then when kids leave, pretty much identical replacements come in to fill in for them. Tracy Edwards >> Claire Scott. Jonah Jones >> Kevin Baylon. Janet St Clair >> Cheryl Webb.
- Two of those examples are wrong. Janet and Cheryl overlap in series 9 and the latter becomes Roland's unwanted helper more out of her obsession with healthy food than Janet's general concern. Jonah and Kevin are quite different characters and the sudden replacement for Jonah (who's offscreen departure is covered in dialogue) was a repurposing of his younger cousin Jeremy who was introduced for a one-off storyline the previous year.<br>The 1980 intake is bad with none of the originals making it to the sixth form whilst the 1988 intake sees only Justine Dean doing so.
