Big School review

The performances from each of the characters along with the distinctiveness of each character adds to the comedy and having now seen most of the series they're characters that you really grow to care about and love.

David Walliams' new show is a masterclass in comedy

Hurrah! An old school sitcom: No wobbly cameras or vile language - just real characters and good jokes. David Walliams' new show is a masterclass in comedy.

The public disembowelling of The Wright Way will have put a few comic heavyweights on alert about upcoming projects, but David Walliams doesn't have too much to fear where his new sitcom Big School is concerned. It may be a little light on jokes, but it's transparently good-natured, agreeably old-fashioned and with an adult cast so attention-grabbing that the pupils occasionally feel a little incidental to proceedings.

Walliams is Mr Church, the sad-sack chemistry teacher who withdraws his proposed resignation when highly desirable maverick French teacher Miss Postern (Catherine Tate) arrives to shake up Greybridge secondary school. Frances de la Tour's withering headmistress, Daniel Rigby's clueless music tutor and Philip Glenister's non-PC PE teacher all grapple over scenes to steal and prise some good laughs out of the sometimes slight material.

It's no Grade-A student, but Big School isn't expulsion fodder either - a decent achievement with so few new sitcoms worthy of a pass these days.

Big School: what education TV tells us about ourselves

From the classic Grange Hill to David Walliams' new comedy, school-based television holds up a mirror to Britain in more ways than one.

TV preview: Big School, BBC1

The shock of Big School is that it plays it so safe even though it is after the post-9pm watershed, though I guess that's BBC1 on a Friday night for you.

Big School review

Despite a mixed reaction from the Twittersphere (but then what could be expected?), Big School seems to have hit the ground running. In a week when GCSE and A-Level results are big news, I'd give Big School B for Attainment, but definitely an A for Effort.

David Walliams on superstardom

An interview with David Walliams. "People who really thrive at school don't necessarily thrive at life... Creative imagination is formed when you're on your own a lot and not out all day playing football and having fun with your friends".

Big School review

While not original in the slightest, Big School still has a lot going for it both in pace and character.

Big School: Writing with comedy greats

Collaboration was at the heart of Big School, a sitcom conceived by David Walliams (the swimmer turned actor who also plays Mr Church) but written, from the very first draft of episode one, by four people: David himself and us Dawson Bros (who can neither act nor swim).

Remains of the school day

When David Walliams saw the film version of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, he thought: there's a comedy in this. But why set it in the classroom? James Rampton finds out.