SCHOOL FOR SCANDA

Sheridan Smith plays a teacher facing her worst nightmare when she’s accused of seducing a pupil in a provocative new thriller...

One of the most successful days in the life of teacher Jenna Garvey turns into a nightmare when she’s accused of having sex with a pupil aged just 15.

In Channel 5’s new fourpart psychological thriller The Teacher – all episodes of which are being shown this week – Jenna, who’s played by Sheridan Smith, heads to Lazarus nightclub in Bradford to celebrate a promotion but drinks so much she blacks out. The next morning she’s accused of committing the terrible crime in a toilet at the club with Kyle, a student at Earlbridge School – but she can’t remember a thing.

Sheridan says, ‘I wanted to make Jenna likeable – something I try to do with all the characters I play – but also leave viewers really not knowing what to think about her.

‘There were scenes where I thought, “This is so terrible, you’d be fired immediately,” and her actions didn’t always sit right with me. She tries to be friends with the pupils at Earlbridge but whether she’s guilty of committing the criminal offence she’s accused of remains to be seen.’

Jenna, daughter of highly respected former headmaster Roger Garvey, is a brilliant, caring teacher. Her nightclub celebration comes after she’s appointed Head of English at Earlbridge, much to the annoyance of her rival for the job, Nina.

But Jenna’s no saint. She smokes, regularly drinks to excess and is sleeping with married colleague Jack, played by former Strictly winner Kelvin Fletcher.

As the series builds to a climax the truth about what happened in that nightclub finally emerges. An infamous event in Jenna’s

rightly struck off and lost their career and reputation, having not remembered a thing about the event.

‘The idea you can transition overnight from one of the most respected roles in society to one of the most reprehensible and not remember a single thing of it, I found both horrifying and fascinating and there are elements of that case in Jenna’s journey.’

Sheridan credits her son Billy, now 20 months old, for helping her cope with the emotionally taxing part. ‘I put my heart and soul into roles, but since having my son I’m not as bad,’ she says. ‘I’m able to come home and say, “The day is done, I’m going back to my baby,” and that’s just what I did on The Teacher!’

Tim Oglethorpe The Teacher, Monday-thursday, 9pm, Channel 5.