Characters / Bad Education

Staff

Alfred Frufrock "Alfie" Wickers

Actor: Jack Whitehall

23 years old, Alfie is basically a teenager in an adult body. He may lack in actually teaching his kids but he loves them and always has their backs.

Tropes:

• Badass Teacher: Zigzagged. Alfie usually puts up a tough front, but once he realises the consequences of his actions, he tends to revert to a scared little boy. Key moments include resigning during a teacher's strike to save everyone else...only to beg for his job back - and engaging in swordplay with a Bomb Throwing Anarchist, only to assume the foetal position and cry when his opponent grabs out a battle-axe. His ability to put his pupils' talents to good use are quite impressive, though.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He's a smart guy and a competent teacher, but most of the time he's tired and/or just doesn't care.
• Butt-Monkey: Takes a considerable amount of abuse throughout the series, and even indecently exposes himself (unintentionally) twice in The Movie.
• Cool Teacher: He's popular and well liked by his pupils, though isn't particularly good at actually teaching them.
• Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher: Alfie is determined to be the guy that revolutionises teaching so it's fun. His insistence on teaching history by having his pupils act it out is just one of several examples.
• Establishing Character Moment: He comes to school with a hangover, walks into the wrong classroom, shows no interest in teaching, unintentionally insults Jing and still manages to deliver a clapback when Mitchell gets haughty.
• Hidden Depths: For all his incompetence, he genuinely cares about the pupils.
• Innocently Insensitive: Has a tendency to insult other cultures, although it seems he doesn't mean to.
• One of the Kids: Definitely. He's even forced to sit an exam with them in a third series episode.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: His attempt at a Cornish accent veers head-first into a Jamaican one.
• Something Else Also Rises: In two episodes: after finding out Rosie is in a relationship with a woman and after taking an overdose of Viagra (which he mistook for steroids).
• Strangely Arousing: Both jealous of and aroused by Rosie’s relationship with Alex.
• Unexpected Virgin: The first series episode "Sex Education" reveals that he's never had sex.
• Upper-Class Twit: Smart, rich posh guy, but still slightly incompetent.
• Will They or Won't They?: With Rosie. They Do.

Shaquille Banter "Simon" Fraser

Actor: Mathew Horne

Abbey Grove's headmaster; a young, hip (or so he likes to think) and eccentric fellow who's usually too busy with his own outrageous actions to notice whatever mayhem may be around him. In Series 4, after the governors attempted to force him out of the job, he's taken a job swap that "no sane person would ever accept" to become the school cook.

Tropes:

• Cloud Cuckoolander: Where to start?
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: Once he becomes the school cook.
• Cringe Comedy: To the point where Alfie tries to use Fraser's banter as an example of an unsexy thought.
• Last-Name Basis: Usually referred to by his surname.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: It explains why Alfie has ultimate job security.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Oh lord... Deconstructed when he tries to scramble for N-Word Privileges.
• Totally Radical: Again, his banter.

Isobel Pickwell

Actor: Michelle Gomez

(Series 1–2) The deputy headmistress of Abbey Grove; a fierce, intimidating woman who frequently butts heads with Alfie and schemes for higher power.

Tropes:

• Ambiguous Gender: There are hints she may have male genitalia. When she brags about having bigger balls than Alfie, he asks her if she's being literal and she doesn't clear it up. The sight of her in a swimsuit is also off-putting to many.
• Ambiguously Bi: When Isobel find out that Rosie is bisexual, she tries to flirt with her and she often hints to her having previous lesbian relationships with women.
• Back for the Finale: at the very end and stinger of Season 2.
• Brutal Honesty: Often gives it to people.
• Covered in Gunge: In one episode as a prank by Alfie and his class.
• Driven to Suicide: Except she isn't...
• Dominatrix: heavily implied in the series 2 finale... with Alfie.
• Evil Luddite: During class elections, she demands the students not talk about global warming.
• Faux Affably Evil: Despite presenting herself as an ideal headmistress, she is a very strict, self-serving, and greedy person.
• Hemo Erotic: “and biting. Lots of biting.”
• Makeup Is Evil: Wears a lot of lipstick and eyeliner in contrast to Rosie.
• Run for the Border: As of half-way through Season 2.
• Sadist Teacher: Though she's more interested in tormenting Alfie than the kids.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: Exists to kill any sense of joy the rest of the faculty may feel. Even Rosie feels the sting on occasion.

Rosie Gulliver

Actor: Sarah Solemani

The biology teacher and former interim deputy headteacher following Pickwell's departure. She is very kind and loves teaching. She is revealed to be bisexual at the start of Series 2.

Tropes:

• Age-Gap Romance: Several. Aside from her flings with Alfie, she's had it off with her professor, a blind date Alfie's age and a former pupil. The few times we see her interact with men her own age, it never leads to any sparks.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Alfie.
• Berserk Button: Don't ever try to dig up her deceased brother Freddie's memorial garden.
• The Heart: To Alfie, and in general of the main cast.
• Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: She's a very sweet and caring person, and this is shown by the way she treats her homeroom kids. She is even berated multiple times by Isobel for being "too nice" to her students.
• Nice Girl: Open-minded, knows how to make education applicable to kids and understands Alfie means well in spite of himself.
• Only Sane Woman: She's the most normal and sensible of all the teachers.
• Will They or Won't They?: With Alfie.

Professor Celia Green

Actor: Samantha Spiro

Tropes:

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Initially presents herself in a friendly manner but soon shows her true colors as an obnoxious, sadistic tyrant.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: She's bright and cheerful in stark contrast to the dark and stern Isobel Pickwell, but Green manages to be just as authoritarian and perverted.
• Expy: Her saccharine exterior and micromanaging bring to mind Dolores Umbridge.
• I Banged Your Dad: Loves to disgust Alfie by bringing up how she’s sleeping with his dad. She even has an explicit slide show running on a TV in her office, featuring nude photos of the two of them in sexual poses. He often walks in to the two having sex (one in his flat with Rosie and Joe, another with Martin in his desk with Celia underneath it, and the last at a bouncy castle during the fundraiser)
• It's All About Me: When the school was on the verge of bankruptcy, she was unwilling to adjust her salary as she was saving up for a presumed vacation with Martin, and instead looked for other methods to get Abbey Grove back in the black by selling books, food and even Alfie's classroom TV, to name a few, much to the dismay of the staff.
• Put on a Bus: In the third series premiere, it is revealed that she took all of Martin's money and took off.
• Too Much Information: Often likes to gross Alfie out by detailing her sexual exploits with his dad.

Preet van der Plessis

Actor: Harry Peacock

A South African gym rat, later physical education teacher at Abbey Grove.

Tropes:

• Amoral Afrikaner: Embodies every stereotype. He mentions segregating changing rooms, but not by gender. He uses actual weapons during a self-defense exercise and he confesses his attraction to Alfie in the creepiest manner possible (showing his sketches of him sexually assaulting Alfie, both naked).
• Bilingual Bonus: his dialogue is peppered with Afrikaans words. Alfie is a "moffie" - a Camp Gay and Rosie/Chantelle are both called "stukkie", a slang word for a girl/woman who is sexually attractive or somebody's girlfriend.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: one of his middle names is "Hoitetoit" - Afrikaans for "Hottentot" - a member of the black Khoikoi tribe. "Hottentot" is the older name imposed on them by Afrikaaners and is now thought to be something of an N Word.
• Manly Gay: After beating the absolute shit out of Alfie and getting sent to prison, he concludes that he's sexually attracted to him.
• Overly Long Name: Preet Cornelius Hennihenwig Hoitetoit Goosenhuissen Tabactablanche Vestavasen Voota van der Plessis
• Prison Rape: his cellmate ended up with Alfie's face tattooed on his back.
• Sadist Teacher: formerly with the South African Defence forces, he teaches PE.

Martin Wickers

Actor: Harry Enfield

Tropes:

• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Often unintentionally embarrasses Alfie in front of his co-workers and pupils. At one point, he chases Alfie down to loudly give him his lunchbox in front of the new headteacher.
• Dirty Old Man: He's way too open with his sex life for Alfie to handle.
• Too Much Information: Frequently, much to Alfie’s discomfort.

Olive Mollinson

Actor: Leila Hoffman

Tropes:

• Demoted to Extra: Not that she was ever really given much screentime; but she became this following series 2.

Stephen Carmichael

Actor: Layton Williams

Form K's resident drama queen and aspiring dramatic actor. In Series 4, he returns to Abbey Grove as the drama teacher.

Tropes:

• The Ace: He's shown to be talented at many things throughout the series, such as singing, dancing, sports, and even fighting.
• Always Camp: Managed to make Robocop fabulous.
• Camp Gay: Best seen during the sack race, where he turns his sack into a stylish dress and walks down the track like he’s on a catwalk.
• Hidden Depths: Despite his campy mannerisms, he’s a good fighter and a talented footballer.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Goes to the school dance dressed as a woman called ‘Stephanie’.

Mitchell Harper

Actor: Charlie Wernham

The tough guy of Form K; he's from a lower-class upbringing, which is a target of jokes when he starts something. In Series 4, he returns to Abbey Grove after talking himself into getting a job as the PE teacher.

Tropes:

• Belligerent Sexual Tension: In series 3, with Cleo.
• The Cracker: Surprisingly good at computers, and often uses his skills to illegally hack into websites.
  Mitchell: See? Told you the FBI website was piss easy to hack, man.
• Deadpan Snarker: Usually along the lines of "Wotta penis!".
• Hidden Depths: Shows a thoughtful and in-depth approach to human sexuality:
  Mitchell: Sir, so what if Gulliver's exploring her boundaries? Sexuality ain't a rigid set of definitions. It's a spectrum, and we're all fluctuating between its many polarities. (everyone stares in disbelief) Plus, yat on yat is fit, innit?
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Acts like a delinquent most of the time, but during his farewell, he admits that he genuinely likes Alfie and his classmates.
  • As a teacher, in "Whodunnit", he's the one who tells Hoburn about Stephen's plan to take Class K on a trip to his audition, because he's seen the kids worrying about their schoolwork and wants to get them some time to get their grades up.
• Lovable Rogue: Unlike Grayson, Mitchell isn't a complete jerkass.
• Lower-Class Lout: Lives in a caravan. His dad also has an unintelligible accent.
• Put on a Bus: Transfers out of Abbey Grove early in series 3 but is seen a few episodes later in juvie. He returns as a student in the movie.
• Student–Master Team: Sometimes forms one with Blessing, who is both his pupil and his successor as Class K's resident hustler.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Has a lot of banter with Rem Dogg.

Bernadette Hoburn

Actor: Vicki Pepperdine

Abbey Grove's new, strict, headmistress in Season 4.

Tropes:

• Contrasting Replacement Character: To her predecessor, Fraser - she's a strict, conservative disciplinarian in contrast to his Totally Radical Cloud Cuckoolander qualities.
• Sex for Services: In "Whodunnit", she offers to perform a sex act on Fraser's newly hired assistant, who she believes to be an Ofsted inspector in exchange for keeping the school out of special measures. He accepts, not realising that she doesn't understand who he is.

Mr. Wickers' Pupils

Chantelle Parsons

Actor: Nikki Runeckles

A flirty and fashionable Form K girl who pursues Alfie.

Tropes:

• Hot for Teacher: Never goes a single episode without Chantelle making a pass at Alfie.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Auditioned for the school play with that scene from Basic Instinct. Alfie knew to cover his eyes.

Jing Chow

Actor: Kae Alexander

A Chinese girl who is easily the most responsible and academically involved of Form K.

Tropes:

• Asian and Nerdy: Throughout the first two seasons. In Season 3, however, the smart Jing has the desire to go down her own pathway in life (going on to a creative writing course in Paris).
• Cute Bookworm
• Deliberate Under-Performance: In the penultimate episode of Season 3, she is pressured by her parents to excel in her biology exam so that they can send her to their choice of private university. As she wanted her parents to love her for who she is, she deliberately sabotages her exam, writing "the worst paper anyone have ever seen, literally ungradable". After the exam papers were destroyed by Grayson in the skip fire, they retook it one week later; with Alfie filling in Jing's paper with poor and random answers, whilst Jing fills in Alfie's with the correct answers.
• Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Not her, but Alfie treats her in this way when he casts her as a Japanese ^note which her actress is in real life and then Korean when she's actually Chinese (whether he means to or not is a different question).
• Jerkass: Was rather insulting against Alfie in series 1, using her foreign language to openly criticise him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite how she views Alfie most of the time, she does come to his aid more often in later seasons and genuinely cares about him.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Evolved season by season, as she grew to understand Alfie's racial insensitivity wasn't deliberate.
• Wise Beyond Her Years: Set up as an obvious foil to Alfie.

Joe Poulter

Actor: Ethan Lawrence

A plus-sized boy often subject to Mr Wickers taking advantage of him.

Tropes:

• Butt-Monkey: He's bullied by students and teachers alike.
• Only Sane Man: On occasion, such as when Alfie wants to release a pig to impress Rosie. Joe tells him that it's a bad idea and asks why he doesn't just tell Rosie how he feels, but gets ignored.
• Traumatic Haircut: In the second series premiere, he arrives with a bowl cut. At the beginning of series 3, he wears a beanie hat in most scenes after he got nits and his mother shaved his head.
• Teacher's Pet: Alfie often favours him, trusts him the most and is the first person he goes to for favours.

Leslie "Rem Dogg" Remington

Actor: Jack Binstead

A paraplegic student in Form K; he sits in the back of the room and often has back and forth with his best friend Mitchell, often with Your Mom jokes.

Tropes:

• Emo Teen: Throughout series 3, although he seems to have passed this phase some time before the events of the movie.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Mitchell. Rem Dogg even breaks his silence to admit he loves him.
• The Quiet One: Becomes this in his Emo Teen phase; he rarely speaks throughout the season.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Mitchell.

Francis "Frank" Grayson

Actor: Jack Beance

Abbey Grove's resident school bully.

Tropes:

• Antagonist in Mourning: Despite all the crap he gives his teacher, Grayson genuinely misses Alfie because he lacks the self-esteem compared to Rosie.
  Grayson: Turns out I need that bumbling, toffee-nosed wank stain like day needs night.
• Armoured Closet Gay: From the Christmas Special to the Season 3 finale, becoming the Prom King with fellow Queen 'Stephanie'.
• The Bully: Bullies everyone but his favourite target is Alfie.
• Character Development: Receives a great deal towards the end of series 2 and throughout 3.
• Freudian Excuse: Ventures from The Bully into the "Well Done, Son" Guy in the penultimate episode; Grayson's mother puts her chihuahua Coco on a pedestal, while she treats her son like crap, explaining his attitude with most of the students and Alfie. This would lead to him seeing Alfie in a slightly better light and buy him, along with his teacher and class, some time in switching out the plain tissue box out for the one with notes.
• Held Back in School: A third series episode has Miss Gulliver mention that Frank's been held back five years.
• Jerk Jock: One of the nastier kids in the series.
• Pet the Dog: Shows signs of bonding with Alfie near the end of the series.

Cleopatra "Cleo" Ofoedo

Actor: Weruche Opia

(Series 3) An aggressive transfer student to Abbey Grove after expulsion from twelve prior schools.

Tropes

• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Mitchell.
• Everything Is Racist: While some of Alfie's comments do have stereotypical racial undertones, there are times when Cleo points it out when there actually is none.

Mr. Carmichael and Mr. Harper's Pupils

Blessing

Actor: Francesca Amewudah-Rivers

A money-oriented girl who is always hustling and running scams which sometimes gets her into trouble.

Tropes:

• Student–Master Team: Sometimes forms one with Mitchell, who is both her teacher and her predecessor as Class K's resident hustler.

Harrison

Actor: Bobby Johnson

A dim-witted but very loyal member of Class K.

Tropes:

• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Joe, minus the Teacher's Pet qualities.

Inchez

Actor: Anthony J. Abraham

An aspiring rapper who puts on a front that he's cool.

Tropes:

• Hidden Depths: He sings soprano in his church choir, which comes out in "School Play", where he plays Meghan Markle in its titular event.

Jinx

Actor: Laura Marcus

A socially-conscious member of the class.

Tropes:

• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: In "Whodunnit", she's shown joining in in a rap cypher with a group of otherwise entirely Black students.
• Soapbox Sadie: In general, but best-exemplified in "Trailblazer", where she and Stephen attempt to "decolonise the school kitchen" by removing all non-Anglo-Saxon ingredients, resulting in a meal of turnips in rainwater.

Usma

Actor: Asha Hassan

Class K's glamorous, social media obsessed gossip.

Tropes:

Warren

Actor: Ali Hadji-Heshmati

A smart, quiet member of Class K who mostly keeps to himself. While talented, he often neglects his studies in order to help in Stephen's latest efforts to become a star.

Tropes

• Teacher's Pet: Is to Stephen what Joe was to Alfie, with Stephen often enlisting him in helping him with his auditions. In "Trailblazer", he's the only member of Class K to remember Stephen's birthday, and gives him a present.

Film Characters

Pasco Trevelyan

Actor: Iain Glen

The main antagonist; the leader of a extremist terrorist group known as the Cornish Liberation Army.

Tropes:

• Anti-Villain: All he really wants is independence for Cornwall and to bring justice to a corrupt MP, but he's willing to resort to extremist measures to do so.
• Badass Longcoat: His trademark.
• Big Bad: Provides the central conflict in the movie.
• Bomb Throwing Anarchist: Blows up at least one mansion.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Alfie even admits that he agrees with Pasco's ideology.

Susan Poulter

Actor: Joanna Scanlan

Joe's haughty and overbearing mother.

Tropes:

• Big Damn Heroes: She organises the other mothers to rescue the kids right when the Cornish Liberation Army is putting them in harm's way.
• Inspector Javert: Records every mistake Alfie makes over the course of the field trip.
• Mama Bear: It's little wonder Joe turned out the way he did.
• What the Hell, Hero?: At one point, Alfie points out that she'd rather humiliate him than actually protect her son.

Atticus Hoye

Actor: Jeremy Irvine

An old classmate of Alfie's.

Tropes:

• The Ghost: Was this throughout the series, often a fond mention from Alfie and usually involved in some kind of homoerotic activity.
• Hate Sink: Pasco and Susan are the main antagonists, but their motives are understandable. Atticus meanwhile is a plain old bully with no depth or reason to his cruelty.
• Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: An over-privileged snot that forces Alfie into harmful situations for his own amusement.

Phoebe

Actor: Talulah Riley

Atticus' girlfriend.

Tropes:

• Alpha Bitch: Is dating Atticus, but leads Alfie on because she likes the power it gives her.
• Romantic False Lead: Alfie briefly considers picking her over Rosie, but quickly realises she doesn't respect him.