Bromwell High

Bromwell High
The main cast of Bromwell High. From left to right: Latrina, Keisha and Natella.
Created byAnil Gupta
Richard Osman
Richard Pinto
Directed byPete Bishop
StarringJo Wyatt
Nina Conti
Gina Yashere
Simon Greenall
Graeme Garden
Doon Mackichan
Stephen Mangan
Stephen Merchant
Tracy-Ann Oberman
Composers
  • Andy Britton
  • David Goldsmith
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Canada
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Beth Stevenson
  • Anil Gupta
Running time22 minutes approx.
Production companiesHat Trick Productions
Decode Entertainment
Original release
NetworkChannel 4 (United Kingdom)
The Detour On Teletoon (Canada)
ReleaseFebruary 1 (2005-02-01) –
April 26, 2005 (2005-04-26)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Bromwell High is an adult animated series about a British high school in South London. It first aired on Teletoon in Canada and Channel 4 in the United Kingdom (incomplete run). It is a co-production between Hat Trick Productions in the UK and Decode Entertainment in Canada.[1] It was originally to be entitled Streatham Hill, but was renamed Bromwell High in January 2005. Streatham Hill is a real London suburb, while Bromwell is fictional.[2]

Subsequent international purchases have seen the show screened in the United States on BBC America, on The Box in the Netherlands, dubbed to Spanish and Portuguese on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in Latin America, on the ABC in Australia, on TVNZ's TV2 in New Zealand, and also dubbed in French for the Canadian Télétoon network.

It stars three troublemaking girls: Keisha, Latrina, and Natella, as they wreak havoc on their impoverished school and its teachers.

The show was designed by David Whittle, who is also responsible for illustrating the popjustice icons series of books.

The show represents a caricatured view of contemporary British society, while "delivering a surreal and outlandish viewing experience."[3] For example, the majority of students at Bromwell High School are immigrant children from the Caribbean and Asia, and some of the male teachers are aging 'chavs'. Many of the characters on the show speak a very poor form of English, including the headmaster, Iqbal. Most of the teachers have an affinity for biscuits.

Because the show was intended for both British and Canadian audiences, the characters sometimes use Canadian terms which are different from those heard in Britain. This can sometimes confuse viewers, especially on the occasions when Bromwell is referred to as a "public school"; in Canada, this means a provincial school, open to non-fee paying students, but in the UK, the term refers to a fee-paying, private school which attends the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. In fact, Bromwell would be correctly termed as a state school in Britain.

There are some other differences between the UK and Canadian versions of the show, notably that the UK version has a longer and slightly different version of the opening credits and theme, and the UK broadcasts were in the 16:9 (widescreen) aspect ratio, while the Canadian versions are cropped to a 4:3 picture.

The show is directed by Pete Bishop (who also directed and co-created with Steven Appleby and Frank Cottrell-Boyce the Captain Star TV series) and was created by Anil Gupta, Richard Osman, Richard Pinto, and Sharat Sardana (with Osman, Pinto and Sardana also contributing as writers to the show).

  1. ^ "DECODE Does Hat Trick's Bromwell High for Channel 4 | Animation World Network". Archived from the original on 15 December 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Toonhound - Bromwell High (2005)".
  3. ^ Mendelsohn, Jon (2 August 2020). "Short-Lived Adult Animated Shows You May Have Missed". CBR. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.