Telly talk: School daze

After Little Britain, David Walliams became a household name. There was Come Fly With Me, a dangerous alien coward on Doctor Who, and an incredible charity swim along the Thames that did his health no good but helped countless others with the money he raised.

Various other bits and pieces happened, the BAFTA-nominated Mr Stink, and then this: Big School. Another school-set comedy. As if we didn’t already know that the kids are more sorted than the teachers and the music teacher – if he’s under 35 – is likely to teach pop and consider himself ‘cool’. Wassup?

“He’s the self-styled yet largely ignored lothario of the small work island land”

Big School is co-written by Walliams and sports an impressive cast. None less than Frances De La Tour plays the school’s no-nonsense head Ms Baron, and Walliams stars in it himself as the sweet-natured if a bit pompous Mr Church, the chemistry teacher. Philip Glenister takes a duck out from playing alpha male tough guys, and delivers a rather good turn as a wannabe alpha male tough guy PE teacher. No mean feat dialling down that testosterone, only to serve it up again in an entirely less successful in life yet more easily recognisable flavour. His Mr Gunn can be found not only in a number of staff rooms but also in a great many offices across the country, as the self-styled yet largely ignored lothario of the small work island land.

Catherine Tate arrives as the new French teacher. The old one died over half term, and this school, although apparently holding academic aspirations on a par with St Trinian’s, doesn’t dally in getting in new staff.

It’s at this point that I highlight the fact that Walliams’ co-writers are The Dawson Brothers, with their IMDB profile listing amongst their more recent writing credits Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, World Series Of Dating and Winter Wipeout. It’s not where you’d immediately leap when considering who might step up to the plate vacated by Matt Lucas. But still, the combination seems to balance out okay, with the kids’ lingo sounding as authentic as the teachers’ fey flirting. Actually, maybe more so.

Despite the stellar cast and backing, it’s not that Big School is bad or good, it just feels a bit ‘meh’. I enjoyed it – I even laughed once, but once isn’t enough for an entire half an hour.

Perhaps it’ll grow on me, like Little Britain did. This is nothing like Little Britain, by the way – it’s quite gentle and knowingly sweet as opposed to those broad strokes of comedy that hit so hard in the ‘90s. It just doesn’t seem to do anything particularly new. Not only have lots of comedies been set in schools, lots of comedies are still set in schools. It’s quite a saturated premise. Yes, teachers fancy each other and some really have no authority and others are a bit loopy, but again – this doesn’t feel new.

Perhaps it doesn’t have to be. The classics are revisited for a reason, and this could develop and turn out to be one of those. Lots of things could happen. But to be honest, I’m not that bothered. If it’s on I’ll watch it, but I wouldn’t miss a yoga class for the next episode.

Big School, BBC1, Friday 16 August 2013