The BBC’s boarding school satire is back and brimming with sex, laughs, super-cringe slam poetry and superstar performances – proof that it’s up there with the finest British coming-of-age shows

Standing on stage at the St Gilbert’s School showcase, acting headteacher Carol Watlington-Geese (Niky Wardley) has some words of encouragement for the teens performing their drama monologues, and the parents paying their handsome fees. “Who knows,” she cackles, a not-so-subtle smirk lingering across her face. “We may have the next Eddie Redmayne or Tom Hiddleston among us!” That might sound innocent, but like most things in Boarders it isn’t, because Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston are white and the scholarship kids Watlington-Geese is desperately trying to get rid of are all black. St Gilbert’s, she later tells one of the group, is all about “team players, not troublemakers” – and she had decided who the troublemakers were from the start.

Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s satirical teen comedy first aired early last year. It is set at an exclusive boarding school where the students in question have been enlisted to make over a reputation that is stale, male, pale and generally appalling. Rupert, Carol’s son no less, has been filmed pouring champagne over a homeless man (if this sounds outlandish, it is only slightly worse than the infamous case of a Cambridge student who burned a £20 note in front of a man who was sleeping rough). Enter stage left: five new students, all young, gifted and black, who have been shipped in from the big smoke by their mentor, Gus (played by Taylor). He reminds them of their talents but warns them to keep their heads down. Of course, that is easier said than done: Leah (Jodie Campbell) is grossed out by the school’s colonial vibes, which she likens to Get Out, Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror comedy about race, and quickly makes an enemy of the then headmaster, while Femi (Aruna Jalloh) is led astray by the popular kids, whose hazing rituals blur the line between friendship and bullying. Meanwhile, Jaheim (Josh Tedeku) remains embroiled in problems at home on his London estate; Omar (Myles Kamwendo) is more interested in joining a secret society than studying; and class clown Toby (Sekou Diaby) is accused of dealing drugs. There are laughs, romance, sex, drama – and a strong possibility that the gang might not make it through their A-levels.