Boarders star Josh Tedeku has opened up about his experience filming the brand new second season of the hit BBC drama, which is now streaming.
All six episodes of the acclaimed school-set series’ follow-up outing are available for fans’ viewing pleasure on iPlayer, just a year after its debut scored rave reviews.
The series follows five Black, inner-city teens, Jaheim Marsham (played by Tedeku), Leah Dulverton (Jodie Campbell), Omar Palmer-Grace (Myles Kamwendo), Femi Adebeyo (Aruna Jalloh) and Toby Staithes (Sekou Diaby), who score scholarships to a prestigious boarding school, St Gilbert’s.
However, their presence soon starts to ruffle feathers amongst both their classmates and even the school’s faculty.
After finally finding their footing in the first season, the next six episodes throws their world off-kilter once again now Carol Watlington-Geese (Niky Wardley) has stepped in as headmistress and is desperate to kick them out.
Despite the raised stakes, there are still plenty of laughs to be had in the latest addition to the hit series.
“My favourite moment has to be shooting a scene with Mohammed Mansaray who plays Malachi and Zheng Xi Yong who plays Xiang,” Tedeku recalled.
“Where we were improvising an argument where we were just hammering each other with insults.
“The insults we used against each other were so ridiculous and funny – we were all dying of laughter that day!”
Throughout the first season, Jaheim struck up a new friendship with his roommate Xiang, while Malachi is his best friend from back home involved in local crime.
Tensions come to a boil for Jaheim as his two worlds start to collide, leading to an intense row that nevertheless caused some giggles during filming.
Teasing what’s to come, Tedeku added: “He’s going through a lot. He’s got issues with his family, people at school to deal with and then Carol, the new headmistress, who is now his biggest enemy.
“So all in all, it’s a lot for Jaheim. How does he deal with it all? You’ll have to tune in to find out!”
He then addressed one of his favourite new aspects of the second season.
“I’m excited for people to see the blossoming of Jaheim and Toby’s relationship,” the actor shared.
“It was really fun to build on that this series.”
Fans and critics are still raving about Boarders now the follow-up season has been released, so this is an essential new drama to add to your evening TV schedule.
Boarders season 2 is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.