Western Animation / Bromwell High

Our protagonists from left to right: Natella, Latrina, and Keisha

Bromwell High is a British-Canadian animated comedy produced by Britain's Hat Trick Productions (famous for their live-action comedies, such as Father Ted and Whose Line Is It Anyway?) and Canada's Decode Entertainment (Undergrads, Freaky Stories, Angela Anaconda) that aired in 2005.

Keisha, Latrina, and Natella form a Comic Trio at Bromwell High, an incredibly poor state school, and the show profiles the wacky hijinks of their everyday lives. The show also notably averts Two-Teacher School by giving the teachers just as big of a part (if not bigger) in the plots as the students.

The series' thirteen episodes aired on Teletoon’s Detour block (basically, its version of [adult swim]) in Canada, and had an incomplete run on the UK's Channel 4.

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This British animated series provides examples of:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The student council president is given absolute power, even above that of the headmaster, though this is only discovered by digging through the school records.
• Absurdly Youthful Mother: We never see her on-screen, but Latrina's mother is apparently younger than 25 (if Latrina is to be believed, that is). This leads to a bit of Fridge Horror when one considers that Latrina herself is 12. And for a run-down, poorly performing ex-Secondary Modern that's one bad exam year from the dreaded Special Measures like Bromwell it's depressingly plausible.
• Always Someone Better: Tamsin. When she shows up in one episode, she's revealed to be middle-class, and therefore bested the girls at each of their defining qualities (cleverer than Natella, more powerful than Keisha, and more alluring than Latrina). The girls deal with her by calling her parents to tell them all the horrible things that happen at the school.
• All Women Are Lustful: The two female teachers tend to fight over the attentions of any new adult male characters.
• Ambiguous Gender: Keisha's relative Marlong, who is referred to as her aunt in one episode, and her uncle in another. Doubles as Ambiguous Gender Identity: they may have testicles and are suggested to be transgender, through whether they're female-to-male or male-to-female is unknown. They do have a gender they identify as, but Keisha's ignorance and confusion keep us just as confused as she is.
• And I'm the Queen of Sheba: In "Fire Drill":
  Natella: You'll get detention if you set the school on fire!
  Keisha: And if my auntie had nuts, she'd be my uncle!
  Carol: Keisha, you have a detention.
  Keisha: [on mobile phone] Auntie May! You is a lying bitch!
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: In the episode "No More Teachers", a teacher named Dave Anderson finds musical success and goes on to live a life of Sex Drugs And Rock N Roll. Naturally, the other teachers are very jealous of him. Martin later informs the staff that he suffered a massive drug overdose and died at the end of the episode, and the entire staff breaks out into cheers and forms a conga line.
• Animals Lack Attributes: Very much averted in "Police Story" when a dead male tiger's genitals are out on full display at one point.
• Animated Shock Comedy: The series is full of crude humour and Black Comedy and caricatures modern British society.
• Apathetic Student: Natella is probably the only student in the whole school who cares about her studies.
• Apathetic Teacher: A school full of them. Especially Martin.
• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: Natella often asks Keisha this, and she never is.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Latrina is the most beautiful girl in school, Natella is the smartest kid in school, and Keisha is the strongest kid in school, respectively.
• Big "NO!": Latrina yells one when Natella reveals that she (Natella) and Keisha taped over her Valentine's Day card box.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The main character trio consists of Keisha (big), Latrina (tall and thin), and Natella (short, and the smartest).
• Blatant Lies: In "No More Teachers", Iqbal pulls out a shotgun to shoot the monkey that's teaching the class. He claims that it's a tranquilizer gun and that it will just put it to sleep despite it clearly being a shotgun and blowing the monkey's head off with it.
  Iqbal: And now, I will take him to the zoo. (dead monkey falls over)
• Boom, Headshot!: In "No More Teachers", Iqbal shoots a monkey's head off with a shotgun.
• British Brevity: This series only lasted thirteen episodes.
• Butch Lesbian: Ms. Gosby, who has a husky voice, bulky body and is often compared to a man. A comment from Mrs. Jackson confirms that Ms. Gosby's unseen wife is also one.

• Catchphrase: Latrina has a bunch; most common are "*blank* is for gays!" and "Like me that time."

• Cluster S Bomb:
  Natella: Well? What did you think? Give me your honest opinion.
  Keisha: You were shit. Shitter than shit. You were so shit that it made me want to block up my ears with shit, then eat some shit, and then do a shit.
  Natella: Right. Latrina?
  Latrina: ... Shit.
• Comic Trio: Latrina (The Fool), Keisha (The Leader), and Natella (the Only Sane Man).

• Courtroom Antics: In "Keisha's in Love", Keisha is put on trial to determine whether or not she has a crush on Spencer. When it is proven that she does indeed have a crush on him, instead of going to jail for assaulting (and nearly killing) him, she is sentenced to... ask him out on a date. Wait, what?
• Criminal Mind Games: One of the girls hides some illegal sweets people are looking for and composes a rhyme telling where they are.
  If it is the sweets you seek, into the cloakroom you must sneak, and find where I keep my books, and hang my coat and bag on hooks. Behind the metal doors is stowed the sweets what make your head explode.
• Crush Filter: In "Keisha's in Love", whenever Keisha looks at Spencer, she sees him floating on a golden cloud in heaven, complete with an angelic choir.
• De-aged in Death: When Iqbal is giving a speech about a near-death experience he had in one episode, he describes seeing his mom. He says that when he saw her, she was young again, and "is not have moustache anymore".
• Death of a Child: At the end of "Baby Boom", the ultimate fate of Latrina's baby half-sibling is unknown, but it's safe to assume that they died while being shipped to Japan in that doll box.
• Dialogue Reversal: The "unethical" exchange; Natella toward Keisha, and then later vice versa.
• The Ditz: Both Keisha and Latrina, though both may qualify as Genius Ditzes: see the entry for Hidden Depths, below.
• Double Entendre: Expect Ms. Dickson and Mrs. Jackson to engage in these whenever there's a man they want to have sex with.
  Mrs. Jackson: Can I see your truncheon?
• Dreadful Musician: Natella and her sitar. The only cheers it got during the Music Talent Show was when Mr Beale smashed it.
• Dumb Blonde: Latrina. In the episode "Police Story", her attempts at locating the cell phone thief mostly included overlooking ridiculously obvious clues. She didn't even realize she had stumbled across the case-breaking clue until it was explicitly spelled out for her.
• Dumb Muscle: Keisha. She's regarded as The Dreaded by her classmates and rules the school through her violent ways and incredible strength, but she's one of the stupidest characters on the show.
• Extreme Omnivore: Keisha eats her exam in "Goodbye Mr. Crisps".
• G-Rated Drug: The contraband candy is quite literally mind-blowing.
• Hidden Depths:
  • In the episode "Natella Takes Charge", Keisha shows surprising political savvy and hints of a manipulative side. In that same episode she also wonders who the next Jonathan Swift is going to be in response to Natella asking Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?, which is odd for someone who is supposedly illiterate. Not to mention that, in other episodes, she displays small tidbits of knowledge that most people wouldn't expect her to know.
    Keisha: (while beating up a beauty pageant contestant) Lithuania is not a country, bitch!
  • In "Sack Race" we learn that Latrina is very athletically gifted to the point of being able to beat school records, though she chalks it up to the influence of Leroy Thomas's old vest. And in "Drama Queen", she displays a raw talent for acting that gets her fast-tracked to play the lead in Carol's play.
• Hollywood Tourette's: Carol, although it's used as a one-off joke.
• Hypocrite: Mrs. Jackson frequently tries to sleep with any moderately attractive man in her vicinity, but chews out her husband Martin when he cheats on her.
• Idiot Savant: Iqbal, on one hand, is a very, very lousy headmaster at the titular school. On the other hand, he paints in his spare time (although has trouble selling his paintings), can memorize an encyclopedia, works a bit of amateur theater into staff meetings and assemblies, and can dance and sing.
• Insufferable Genius: Natella may be the Only Sane Man, but she often has a holier-than-thou attitude.
• Jerkass: The entire cast, especially Iqbal and Mr. Bibby.
• Not So Above It All: Natella: she often tries to do the right thing and usually comes off as the Only Sane Man, but under the right circumstances, her pride can get the better of her and make her act just as dysfunctional as anyone else in the cast.
• Once per Episode: The trio riding on the bus to school in the morning.
• Only Sane Man: Natella - although she can be just as neurotic as any other character given the circumstances. Carol plays the straight man to Keisha an awful lot, as well, although Melanie plays the straight man to her when they're lusting after various men and Carol demonstrates her poor fluency with the double entendre.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Iqbal is what happens when you put a prideful Cloudcuckoolander in charge of being the Headmaster of a Sucky School.
• Potty Failure: In "Goodbye Mr. Crisps":
  Iqbal: Hah! You've shat your pants! You is scared!
  Bibby: I assure you, I am not scared. The fact that I've shat my pants is neither here nor there.
• Power Corrupts: Natella, literally any time she's put in a position of power.
• Precision F-Strike: One of many:
  Iqbal: Remember: a vote for Iqbal is a vote for jobs. Your moddafockin' jobs!
• Pyromaniac: Keisha, often to the detriment of the disabled students.
• Really Gets Around: Latrina, Latrina's mother, and Kellie Edwards.

• A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma: As Mrs. Jackson is explaining her separation from her husband to the main characters:
  Mrs. Jackson: As Churchill said, Martin is "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in an enigma".
  Keisha: Wrapped in a cocksucker.
  Mrs. Jackson: I don't think Churchill said that.
• Sadist Teacher: Most of the teachers to some extent, but special mention goes to Mr. Bibby who is heavily implied to be involved in everything from murders to human trafficking with Iqbal.
• School Play: "Drama Queen" has Carol putting her energy into organizing a school play.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Played for Laughs in "Goodbye Mr. Crisps" when Bibby lists off pride, envy, sloth, and gluttony among Iqbal's Fatal Flaws that quickly devolves into a List of Transgressions.
• Shout-Out: A Troll Doll can be seen in the background of the Minister of Education's office in "No More Teachers".
• Slut-Shaming: Latrina, Mrs. Jackson, and Ms. Dickson are frequently subjected to it, but none of them really care.
  Ms. Dickson: YES! I'm the slutty one!
• Status Quo Is God: Everything always goes back to normal by the end of each episode.
• Sucky School: With useless teachers, terrible students, and an incredibly poor budget.
• Suspect Is Hatless: Invoked by Natella, when Latrina wants to be a police officer. Natella points out that Latrina is too unobservant for the job. Natella has their mutual friend Keisha strike her, then asks Latrina to describe her attacker. Despite just witnessing the assault, and being longtime friends with Keisha, the only thing she can remember was that the attacker was black.
• Token Trio: Latrina is white, Natella appears to be South Asian, and Keisha is black.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: The three main characters are 12-years-old: Keisha is an EXTREMELY violent troublemaker, and Latrina is incredibly sexually loose. Natella isn't as bad as either of them, but under the right circumstances, she can do some pretty messed-up things, such as in "Natella Takes Charge", where her power quickly goes to her head, and she becomes disturbingly unsympathetic to the plight of her classmates.
• Tsundere: Keisha, in the episode "Keisha's in Love", where her love for a student (and her inability to understand her feelings) is processed through acts of violence against him.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: There's usually one plot for the kids and another for the teachers.
• Valentine's Day Episode: There is one aptly called "Valentine's Day", in which Natella mentions that it's only a "meaningless marketing event created by greeting-card companies to boost sales figures."
• World of Jerkass: Basically everyone in the show is an unpleasant asshole.
• Yandere: "Drama Queen" shows that Mrs. Jackson is one. On the heels of her separation with Martin, she writes a play that's clearly inspired by their marriage. The play's name is "If You Don't Come Back to Me, Martin, I'll Kill You."
• Zany Scheme: In "No More Teachers", when all the teachers leave to pursue their dreams, what does Iqbal do? Replace the entire staff with monkeys, of course! Ends as badly as you would expect.

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