Sharon Rooney to star with Sheridan Smith to star in Channel 5 drama, ‘Teacher’
’…Stage and screen actress Sheridan Smith will play the lead role of Jenna, a teacher whose life unravels after being accused of a drunken sexual encounter with one of her pupils. With no memory of the night in question, Jenna’s only hope of redemption lies in uncovering the truth about a dark event in her past that returns to haunt her.
Samuel Bottomley plays the pupil at the centre of the drama, while Kelvin Fletcher, Cecilia Noble and Sharon Rooney star as teaching colleagues of Jenna. Meanwhile, David Fleeshman plays the role of Jenna’s father, with Ian Puleston-Davies also featuring…’
Channel 5 drama 'Teacher’ finished filming in Budapest* at the end of March, so watch this space for a broadcast date.
(*that’s why Sharon spent a week in a quarantine hotel - two negative Covid tests meant she didn’t have to do the full two weeks before heading home to Glasgow!)
Sharon Rooney to star with Sheridan Smith to star in Channel 5 drama, ‘Teacher’
’…Stage and screen actress Sheridan Smith will play the lead role of Jenna, a teacher whose life unravels after being accused of a drunken sexual encounter with one of her pupils. With no memory of the night in question, Jenna’s only hope of redemption lies in uncovering the truth about a dark event in her past that returns to haunt her.
Samuel Bottomley plays the pupil at the centre of the drama, while Kelvin Fletcher, Cecilia Noble and Sharon Rooney star as teaching colleagues of Jenna. Meanwhile, David Fleeshman plays the role of Jenna’s father, with Ian Puleston-Davies also featuring…’
’LOVE-HATE: The Teacher stars Sharon Rooney and Sheridan Smith felt so bad filming mean scenes they’d apologise after
(Scottish Sun, 31 January 2022)
DISNEY actress Sharon Rooney has hailed her on-screen rival Sheridan Smith for taking on the role of a teacher accused of sleeping with a young pupil.
The taboo Channel 5 drama, called Teacher, sees a popular educator plead guilty to the sexual offence and lose her job.
But all sorts of twists and turns later emerge, casting doubt over what really happened on the night in question.
Sharon, who plays know-it-all English teacher Nina, admits she was seriously impressed by Sheridan, 40, in her controversial portrayal of Jenna Garvey.
The Glasgow-born actress, 33, who portrayed Miss Atlantis in the big-budget 2019 flick Dumbo, says: “Sheridan and I had said hello to each other previously, but never worked together and I was so thrilled to be on set with her.
“She was on my bucket list of actresses to work with, which keeps getting smaller as I get more opportunities.
“It’s quite funny though, because I spent the whole time glaring at her in every scene, but then the minute they shouted ‘Cut’ we were laughing together.
“Having Sheridan in the lead is just genius, she’s so great.”
Lead star Sheridan, famous for roles in The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, also enjoyed her on-screen spats with Sharon.
She adds: “Sharon is the loveliest girl, but our characters are so horrible to each other – we’d do our scenes and then apologise and hug afterwards.
“I’ve always been a fan of hers, she’s great and not like her character, Nina at all.”
Sharon, who shot to fame on teen comedy drama My Mad Fat Diary, reckons the programme will get people talking.
After being formally charged with having sex with a minor, the press get hold of her story and let rip with salacious stories, Jenna has to move in with her father and loses all of her friends.
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
But it’s hinted that there’s more than meets the eye with the scandal.
Sharon says: “It’s so clever, it sucks you in and you keep changing your mind about what’s happened.
“That’s what great telly is, and I hope people will grab a cup of tea and a blanket, and buckle in.
“I don’t know if I would have the willpower to watch one episode at a time with this show, it’s definitely worth a binge watch – it’s the kind of show where you say, “I’m going in, no-one talk to me, I’m muting my phone and I’ll be back when it’s done!”
The actress, who also starred in the pilot of hit comedy Two Doors Down, is used to playing younger characters.
So she admits it was a surprise when she found out she was going to be both a mum and teacher in her latest job.
However she enjoyed the change of pace and reckons it made her view school in an entirely different light.
Sharon explains: “Nina is quite a character – she takes no prisoners and she says exactly how she feels.
“She reminds me of those ex-smokers who are the worst when it comes to telling people to stop smoking.
“She hasn’t got a chip on her shoulder, she’s got a bag of chips on her shoulder.
‘TAKES NO PRISONERS’
“Nina isn’t perfect in any way, she has a past, but she can’t see that anymore because she tries so hard to be the opposite of what she used to be.
“Nina has become this reformed teacher, a grown-up, and she’s forgotten where she came from.
“That’s what bugs her so much about Jenna – she can’t understand why she’s not behaving like an adult.”
She adds: “I was so chuffed to get the job because it really is something quite different for me.“
“I look like an adult in the show too, which is so funny to me, because I’m so used to playing the young ones.
“When I heard about the job, I thought my agent was putting me forward for one of the kids – I’m not used to playing the mum with the chip on her shoulder – I’m used to playing the teenager who caused the chip.
NEW ENVIRONMENT
“I’m quite shy in real life as well, so it’s fun to play someone so bossy and cheeky. I was always the one messing about at school, being silly.
“So, from the minute I stepped into that environment for filming, a little part of me still wanted to joke about and make people laugh.
“It was very weird being in the staff room – I’ve never been in one before but I was always that kid at the door trying to peek in to see what they do in there.
“But actually I’ve discovered it’s just a lot of marking, chatting and drinking coffee, there are no secrets.
“I had to really remind myself I was the teacher, not one of the kids.
“I am used to playing the one without a care in the world rather than the grown-up telling the kids to put their ties on and get to class, it was really strange.”
UNCOMFORTABLE VIEWING
Sheridan also hopes that folk see the serious side of the situation and question every twist and turn.
The actress researched some similar real-life cases to try to understand their mentality.
And she reckons her chaotic character could split opinion among viewers.
She says: “There are teacher-student boundaries and she has maybe let that slip.
“And then of course her life outside of the classroom is chaotic.
“I really hope people don’t know what to think about her.
“There were scenes where I was thinking, ‘This is so terrible, you’d be fired immediately,’, her actions didn’t sit right with me, but I enjoyed playing them as well.
“It will make incredibly uncomfortable viewing and you won’t know if you like her or not.”
But as long as the audience like the show then she’ll be happy.
Sheridan adds: “Hopefully there will be lots of people not knowing if they trust me as Jenna – there are bits where it looks like I could be quite sinister.
“I hope there are a lot of conversations about whether she is guilty, especially as all the twists and turns come out, it gets so complicated and dark.
"Just can’t wait for the audience to see it – when I first read it I was gripped and I hope they feel the same and come on the journey with us.”
The Teacher will launch on Monday, January 31 at 9pm on Channel 5.’ X
’LOVE-HATE: The Teacher stars Sharon Rooney and Sheridan Smith felt so bad filming mean scenes they’d apologise after
(Scottish Sun, 31 January 2022)
DISNEY actress Sharon Rooney has hailed her on-screen rival Sheridan Smith for taking on the role of a teacher accused of sleeping with a young pupil.
The taboo Channel 5 drama, called Teacher, sees a popular educator plead guilty to the sexual offence and lose her job.
But all sorts of twists and turns later emerge, casting doubt over what really happened on the night in question.
Sharon, who plays know-it-all English teacher Nina, admits she was seriously impressed by Sheridan, 40, in her controversial portrayal of Jenna Garvey.
The Glasgow-born actress, 33, who portrayed Miss Atlantis in the big-budget 2019 flick Dumbo, says: “Sheridan and I had said hello to each other previously, but never worked together and I was so thrilled to be on set with her.
“She was on my bucket list of actresses to work with, which keeps getting smaller as I get more opportunities.
“It’s quite funny though, because I spent the whole time glaring at her in every scene, but then the minute they shouted ‘Cut’ we were laughing together.
“Having Sheridan in the lead is just genius, she’s so great.”
Lead star Sheridan, famous for roles in The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, also enjoyed her on-screen spats with Sharon.
She adds: “Sharon is the loveliest girl, but our characters are so horrible to each other – we’d do our scenes and then apologise and hug afterwards.
“I’ve always been a fan of hers, she’s great and not like her character, Nina at all.”
Sharon, who shot to fame on teen comedy drama My Mad Fat Diary, reckons the programme will get people talking.
After being formally charged with having sex with a minor, the press get hold of her story and let rip with salacious stories, Jenna has to move in with her father and loses all of her friends.
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
But it’s hinted that there’s more than meets the eye with the scandal.
Sharon says: “It’s so clever, it sucks you in and you keep changing your mind about what’s happened.
“That’s what great telly is, and I hope people will grab a cup of tea and a blanket, and buckle in.
“I don’t know if I would have the willpower to watch one episode at a time with this show, it’s definitely worth a binge watch – it’s the kind of show where you say, “I’m going in, no-one talk to me, I’m muting my phone and I’ll be back when it’s done!”
The actress, who also starred in the pilot of hit comedy Two Doors Down, is used to playing younger characters.
So she admits it was a surprise when she found out she was going to be both a mum and teacher in her latest job.
However she enjoyed the change of pace and reckons it made her view school in an entirely different light.
Sharon explains: “Nina is quite a character – she takes no prisoners and she says exactly how she feels.
“She reminds me of those ex-smokers who are the worst when it comes to telling people to stop smoking.
“She hasn’t got a chip on her shoulder, she’s got a bag of chips on her shoulder.
‘TAKES NO PRISONERS’
“Nina isn’t perfect in any way, she has a past, but she can’t see that anymore because she tries so hard to be the opposite of what she used to be.
“Nina has become this reformed teacher, a grown-up, and she’s forgotten where she came from.
“That’s what bugs her so much about Jenna – she can’t understand why she’s not behaving like an adult.”
She adds: “I was so chuffed to get the job because it really is something quite different for me.“
“I look like an adult in the show too, which is so funny to me, because I’m so used to playing the young ones.
“When I heard about the job, I thought my agent was putting me forward for one of the kids – I’m not used to playing the mum with the chip on her shoulder – I’m used to playing the teenager who caused the chip.
NEW ENVIRONMENT
“I’m quite shy in real life as well, so it’s fun to play someone so bossy and cheeky. I was always the one messing about at school, being silly.
“So, from the minute I stepped into that environment for filming, a little part of me still wanted to joke about and make people laugh.
“It was very weird being in the staff room – I’ve never been in one before but I was always that kid at the door trying to peek in to see what they do in there.
“But actually I’ve discovered it’s just a lot of marking, chatting and drinking coffee, there are no secrets.
“I had to really remind myself I was the teacher, not one of the kids.
“I am used to playing the one without a care in the world rather than the grown-up telling the kids to put their ties on and get to class, it was really strange.”
UNCOMFORTABLE VIEWING
Sheridan also hopes that folk see the serious side of the situation and question every twist and turn.
The actress researched some similar real-life cases to try to understand their mentality.
And she reckons her chaotic character could split opinion among viewers.
She says: “There are teacher-student boundaries and she has maybe let that slip.
“And then of course her life outside of the classroom is chaotic.
“I really hope people don’t know what to think about her.
“There were scenes where I was thinking, ‘This is so terrible, you’d be fired immediately,’, her actions didn’t sit right with me, but I enjoyed playing them as well.
“It will make incredibly uncomfortable viewing and you won’t know if you like her or not.”
But as long as the audience like the show then she’ll be happy.
Sheridan adds: “Hopefully there will be lots of people not knowing if they trust me as Jenna – there are bits where it looks like I could be quite sinister.
“I hope there are a lot of conversations about whether she is guilty, especially as all the twists and turns come out, it gets so complicated and dark.
"Just can’t wait for the audience to see it – when I first read it I was gripped and I hope they feel the same and come on the journey with us.”
The Teacher will launch on Monday, January 31 at 9pm on Channel 5.’ X
Tanya Wexler had just started her career in film when she fell pregnant. Now a decade and four children later she’s back with ‘Hysteria’. With an all star cast including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rupert Everett, Felicity Jones, Hugh Dancy and Jonathan Pryce 'Hysteria’ chronicles the invention of the vibrator in Victorian England in the guise of a romantic comedy. I met with the New Yorker in Soho to talk about leaving the 'mom cave’, women in film and stand-out star Sheridan Smith.
HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED WITH THE FILM?
I was given a two page treatment by the developing producer, Tracy Becker. I’d made two teeny-weeny art house films, had four kids and was in the mom cave for a while (laughs) I was developing some stuff but I wasn’t really…it was just slow and I liked it but when you’re in independent film you have to be willing to miss things like dinner with your family or a recital and sometimes on the promise of nothing happening so you have to have to make it.So Tracy said, “I know what your next project is, it’s about the invention of the vibrator in Victorian England.” I almost peed my pants just about the idea so I just knew that I had to do it.
Then we knew that we needed a story because if it was just about the vibrator it would have been a short movie! (Laughs) We brought the writers on and I knew I was an American but I wanted it to be a British film rather than something that was just set over here so we made a list of British independent producers and really through luck and a friend we got to Sarah Curtis who is a goddess…I worship at her feet, she did Mrs Brown, she loved it and in the end we were joined by my third mom on Hysteria, Judy Cairo who did Crazy Heart, and she really brought the finance together with Sarah…and six years later we were shooting! (Laughs)
YEAH IT WAS A LONG PROCESS!
Yeah it was almost two years to get the script right and I’d made two films before so I knew where to put the camera but I didn’t have a very big track record so I need to prove it through developing the script. Once we got that going we financed for two years and as with everything it fell apart as it did for people in every sphere, so it took another two years to get it back together again.
WAS THAT QUITE DISHEARTENING?
Of course, but I mean people always want to attribute it to a tough subject matter but the truth is films are hard, they’re risky endeavours – they’re art in a way, they’re commerce in a way…it’s a silly business. (Laughs)
SO WOULD YOU SAY FINANCING WAS THE TOUGHEST THING?
I suppose so… I find it fascinating, some people just want to wash their hands of it, I think I just want to wash my hands of the pain of ‘will it or won’t it’. I was talking to a friend last night and he saying that you shouldn’t remove the obstacles, it forces you to improve the material and it’s tricky because your goal is to remove the obstacles so you can get the thing made but making sure that the obstacles and push-backs and all the millions of no’s you get really force you to hone the material. I was just really lucky because I loved the material and I found people who loved it and believed in it…
I’M SURPRISED THERE HASN’T BEEN A FILM MADE ABOUT IT BEFORE…
I know right! I think maybe about 10 years before we got involved there was a very well written scholarly book called The Technology of Orgasm by Rachel Maines, and I think it was just the tipping point, where someone pulls together all the knowledge and maybe only a few hundred people will read it but it filters down. I wanted to see a movie about it so thought I better make it!
DO YOU THINK IT’S IMPORTANT THAT YOU’RE A WOMAN DIRECTING IT BECAUSE OF HE SUBJECT MATTER - IT’S ALL ABOUT FEMALE LIBERATION?
That’s a good question, yeah I think for a long time I would have said no or that it didn’t matter and that a man could have placed the camera in the same place I did, but where it comes into play is where I’ve learnt more about the film, people going to see it – men and women – feel safe, they have permission to laugh; no one is exploiting anyone, they know that they’re literally in safe hands…excuse the pun! (Laughs) I think a guy could have gone more explicit, or more comedy and I wanted to see a film that was entertaining, fun and didn’t take itself too seriously. It’s very easy in this film to talk about the gender and politics and I think that’s great but it’s a lot to put on. It’s a romantic comedy and it just happens that the characters happen to be talking about more interesting subjects. The world of romance and finding the one has been really explored – sometimes really well and sometimes not – but this is a romantic comedy of a different kind, the comedy is really about the denial they have. It’s not a movie that’s going to solve the problems of gender and equality! (Laughs)
THERE ARE SOME GREAT ACTORS IN THIS, HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT CASTING?
Oh it was so fun! When you do the financing you do these wish lists of people you’d love to have in the movie…and everyone on my list is in the movie, it was crazy! If I’d known who Felicity Jones was she would have been on my wish list too! My casting director said “There’s this really special actress, she’s really coming up, everyone is talking about her” and I thought I knew who I was going to cast but she was just like, “Just wait, wait we just want you to see one more person!” She came in and I just thought, ‘Holy shit!’ she’s a proper actress and she’s funny, she has pathos. We weren’t doing broad comedy so we needed proper actors who could be funny and I was just like, ‘Are you f*cking kidding me? She’s so good!’ She has a huge facility.
The other revelation for me…because we didn’t really have Gavin and Stacey in the States…was Sheridan (Smith). My producer said, “Before you cast Molly I want you to come and seeLegally Blonde.” I was like “Really? Legally Blonde?” it didn’t do so well in the States and I think it’s down to Sheridan that it did so well as a musical. She made me go, like a proper British woman saying, ‘Don’t be a snob you obnoxious New Yorker!’ (Laughs). I went and I was like"‘I’m going to cry in Legally Blonde? There’s pathos in Legally Blonde?” Sheridan was like a genius! I went backstage to chat to her and she said, “I read the script, I love it, do you mind if I audition?” I was just trying not to offer it to her on the spot! She came in and read for me and it was such a treat, I literally fell off the couch laughing in the audition! You guys are just not fair, you have too much acting talent stuffed into this little country.
It was also amazing to get Maggie (Gyllenhaal) one of my three producers was like, “Do you mind if I send the script to Maggie?” – Do I mind? I was thinking: who is that Katherine Hepburn character today? And there was no doubt, it was Maggie.
YOU WENT AWAY FOR A BIT TO HAVE CHILDREN, HOW HAD THE FILM BUSINESS CHANGED WHEN YOU CAME BACK?
I don’t know I think directors work on projects for long periods of time, people that work on a lot of different things, like producers, may feel it more. I try not to bother about the female director question because you cant really change it…you definitely get pigeon-holed and in a way it seems to have gotten worse, they say of the top 250 grossing films 5% were directed by women and 10 years ago it was 7%.
I think women are tending to be, whether by choice or by force of the industry, are being allowed to do certain types of films, not many women, aside from Kathryn Bigelow, are doing big action films or epic pieces, so they tend to make films that don’t make as much money and are often harder to execute. It’s a self-reinforcing thing where female directors aren’t given films that make lots of money and aren’t given the opportunity to so it just feeds off itself. A lot of women are given high school films but where’s our women that kick ass? (Laughs)
I don’t know it’s interesting, for me it’s changed a lot, the film played at Toronto last year and has been making its way round the world and that’s a huge thing. I think in a way it’s nice to be part of the discussion and getting a crack at things that I never had before.
WHAT FILMS WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE MAKING THEN?
I’m obsessed with good actors so actor-magnets - great characters. I’m not particularly genre specific, though I’m not a big horror fan. I just love big ideas, for me this was about having a laugh at yourself, knowing what’s serious and what’s fun and being true to yourself – those are big universal ideas. I have a biopic I’m working on… that I can’t totally talk about with a really awesome actress and that’s half in the UK and half in the US and hopefully the script will be done in a couple of months. I also have a weird surreal comedy I’m developing…kind of Charlie Kaufman-y….
YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE BACK INTO IT NOW THEN?
Oh yeah, my youngest one has started school so it makes it easier, though travelling can be tricky, even though we have two moms in our family it’s still a little tricky!
DID YOU FIND IT DIFFICULT TO GET BACK INTO?
No, I loved it, it’s hard to not be with your kids but we worked it out, the worst bit is the editing where the fun bit is over and you just want to blow your brains out. (Laughs)
WHO IS YOUR IDOL?
I have too many, the first person who pops into my head is Jane Goodall, she’s a brilliant strong women, trailblazing, changing the world.
