Big School. Image shows from L to R: Miss Postern (Catherine Tate), Mr Church (David Walliams). Copyright: BBC / King Bert Productions
Big School

Big School

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC One
  • 2013 - 2014
  • 12 episodes (2 series)

Sitcom about the dysfunctional staff room, unrequited love and interactive whiteboards of an urban secondary school. Stars David Walliams, Catherine Tate, Philip Glenister, Frances de la Tour, Joanna Scanlan and more.

Steve Speirs interview

Big School. Image shows from L to R: Mr Gunn (Philip Glenister), Miss Postern (Catherine Tate), Mr Church (David Walliams). Copyright: BBC
Big School. Mr Barber (Steve Speirs). Copyright: BBC / King Bert Productions

Steve Speirs plays Mr Barber in Big School...

How would you describe the show and what it's about?

It's really about the interplay between these teachers who are themselves pretty dysfunctional, and I quite like that about the fact the kids aren't necessarily portrayed as that way. Whereas for me one of the things that really attracted me about it is that I think all the characters are quite damaged goods in some way. You have to be pretty special to be a teacher and you're probably a bit damaged after 30 years. There's something quite sad about them all and I think that's what's really clever about the script and its quite layered characters.

Mr Barber seems like one of the most damaged people in the show?

Mr Barber is terribly damaged, he suffers everyday with en masse racism against the fact he's Welsh and his name is Barber, which leads the children to chant 'Baa Baa'. In fact we shot the first scene of that the other day, where we were doing a big assembly room scene, and to have the kids shouting 'Baa Baa' at you, I can imagine why he's having a nervous breakdown. He does use this as well to his advantage where he thinks to try and get out of school. He's one of those teachers who wants as much time off school as he can. But as the series goes on you will see that he does care as well, I mean that's part of his dilemma, he wants the kids to do well but he can't wait to get out of there and uses all sorts of devices he can to get out which are very funny.

Tragic comedy is what defines your character would you say?

Playing something like this, somebody who's given no breaks at all, you have to play that very seriously. You can't be nodding and winking and saying "oh look at me I'm having a break down". You've got to go through the process of doing it, which is great, it's terrific. All the characters have got their own idiosyncrasies, they've all got their little flaws but I think Mr Barber's are much more on his sleeve.

Do you have a favourite episode?

My favourite episode when I read the scripts was where we go on a trip to France. All these things happen on this trip and in terms of my overall character arc it's a real nadir for him. There are some great episodes in there. There's big event things that go on as well as the minutiae of detail which is the interplay of these characters interactions with each other, especially between David and Catherine's characters. There's some really lovely status transactions going on there and it's a joy to watch and it's a great cast to be in.

What do you hope viewers will take away from this series?

I think if you recognise you empathise and if you empathise you acknowledge and if you acknowledge you laugh, and that's part of it. It's universal. If you think how many times you've been in a pub or at a dinner party or you're chatting to a mate on a weekend and school will come up or teachers will come up, and no matter how old you are teachers will live in your memory. So this is putting these people right under the microscope in a way. And I think that there'll be a lot of recognition within it. It's not a faded memory of what school used to be like; it's very real as how it is today. And hopefully they're going to laugh. That's one of the things as well, school days are funny aren't they?

Published: Monday 12th August 2013

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