BBC comedy drama Boarders returns this February after filming in Bristol

A brand-new series of hit comedy-drama Boarders arrives on BBC iPlayer and BBC Three on Monday 3 February, after filming last year at The Bottle Yard Studios and on location in Bristol with support from the city’s Film Office.

Created and written by the BAFTA-nominated Daniel Lawrence Taylor, who also co-stars in the series as Gus, Boarders is produced by Studio Lambert (part of All3Media) for the BBC in co-production with Tubi and ZDFneo. Following a successful shoot for series one in 2023, the producers returned to Bristol to film series two over 12 weeks in Summer 2024. 

Image: Josh Tedeku as Jaheim in Boarders, credit Studio Lambert, All 3 Media, BBC 

Interior sets for the characters’ London homes were built at The Bottle Yard Studios, whilst the main location was the same Bristol school that featured in series one. Bristol Film Office assisted with additional locations including King's Road in Clifton - where a bustling Lewisham market street was created where the five Boarders gather to take the taxi to start their new term at St Gilbert’s at the beginning of the new series - and Dove Street estate in Kingsdown, which served as the urban backdrop for Jaheim’s home neighbourhood. 

Image: Filming for Boarders series 2 at Clifton College, credit Studio Lambert, All 3 Media, BBC 

Further afield, filming also took place on location at Berwick Lodge on the outskirts of Bristol, Ammerdown House and Brean Theme Park in Somerset, Badminton House Grounds and Badminton village in Gloucestershire and ‘The Road to Nowhere’ in Yate, South Gloucestershire. 

Around 90 people worked on the show per day, and over 70% of the crew were local to the region. The team hosted trainees in nearly every production department and also engaged locally with the Workforce Development Programme delivered at The Bottle Yard Studios, giving work experience to local trainee Sophie in the art department. Bristol company Latent Pictures, which works with underrepresented filmmakers, once again produced ‘behind the scenes’ footage for the series, after working with Studio Lambert on series one. 

Image: Sekou Diaby as Toby in Boarders, credit Studio Lambert, All 3 Media, BBC 

Madeleine Sinclair, Studio Lambert Creative Director for Scripted and Executive Producer for Boarders said: “The Studios and Film Office were very accommodating and helped facilitate the shoot in every way possible. We spent eight weeks in the school and four on location. As well as filming on studio sets, we also used locations around The Bottle Yard site which were really useful for other settings. Bristol is an incredible place to film, and we were very pleased to engage with the skills work at the Studio to bring forward local crew talent. We always try to offer as many local opportunities as possible.”

Laura Aviles, Head of Film, Bristol City Council says: “Productions like Boarders are so important to Bristol’s film sector, contributing towards an industry that last year generated more than £30m to Bristol’s economy. By engaging with our regional work to broaden opportunities to new talent, Studio Lambert’s approach is helping bring positive benefit to early-stage talent on both sides of the camera, and we were so pleased to see that local contribution celebrated at the sold out RTS West of England preview of series 2 at the Watershed last week.”

Local trainee Sophie says: “I was looking for something that would give me that leg up into the industry. Before being on the programme I didn't really know where or how to start applying for stuff. The course being run at the Bottle Yard was really useful and I gained work experience assisting the Boarders art department in creating graphics, assets, drafting technical drawings.”

Image: Jodie Campbell filming scenes for Boarders series two on King's Road, Clifton 

What's in store in series 2? 
Boarders follows five talented black inner-city teens – Jaheim (Josh Tedeku), Leah (Jodie Campbell), Toby (Sekou Diaby), Omar (Myles Kamwendo) and Femi (Aruna Jalloh), transported to an alien world – a British boarding school – after gaining scholarships to the prestigious St. Gilbert’s. They set out to make the most out of the opportunity, despite their places only being offered as a poorly disguised PR exercise to improve the reputation of the school.

Returning cast also include Niky Wardley (Carol), Assa Kanouté (Abby), Tallulah Greive (Beatrix), Rosie Graham (Florence), Harry Gilby (Rupert), Georgina Sadler (Mabel), Zheng Xi Yong (Xiang), Dillon Mitra (Dilton), Archie Fisher (Cheddar), Andrew Harmon-Gray (Graham), Ruxandra Porojnicu (Yelena), Kye Malcolm (Caleb), Llewella Gideon (Sylvie), Mohammed Mansaray (Malachi), Niyi Akin (Koku), Maxim Ays (Felix), Al Foran (Stanley), William Andrews (Mackers) and Yuriri Naka (Ms Kaneko). 

Series two sees a new era for St Gilbert’s with the now acting headmistress, Carol Watlington-Geese (who also happens to be the mother of Jaheim’s nemesis, Rupert) at the helm - and she wants Jaheim, Leah, Toby, Omar and Femi gone. Series one saw these five outsiders begin to thrive. Series two asks how much they’re willing to sacrifice just to survive.

The series features Natalie Cassidy (EastEnders) and Alan Cumming (The Traitors US) in guest roles. New cast include BAFTA-winner Wunmi Mosaku (Loki) as Jaheim’s mum Grace, Cara Theobold (Downton Abbey) as St Gilbert’s new writer in residence Jude, and Michael Salami (Supacell) as Femi’s Uncle Teju. Kendra Brown stars in her debut on-screen role as the new American exchange student, Devonyé.

Boarders series two (6x45’) is created by Daniel Lawrence Taylor, who serves as lead writer with Yemi Oyefuwa, Jeffrey Aidoo and Racheal Ofori writing additional episodes. It is directed by Joelle Mae David and Sarmad Masud, with Ali MacPhail returning as the Producer and Carleen Beadle-Larcombe as Line Producer. Mykaell Riley also returns as Musical Director. Executive producers are Daniel Lawrence Taylor, Madeleine Sinclair for Studio Lambert, and Nawfal Faizullah and Katherine Bond for the BBC.

Series two of Boarders will be available in full on BBC iPlayer from Monday 3 February 2025.