The Teacher Was Filmed Very Far Away From Bradford

Channel 5’s new drama series The Teacher has all the makings of a rousing psychological thriller. It stars BAFTA winner Sheridan Smith as English teacher Jenna Garvey who is accused of having a drunken encounter with a student, and the four-part series sees the troubled teacher struggle to prove her innocence. Also starring Emmerdale’s Kelvin Fletcher, the controversial drama is set within a Bradford high school, but where exactly was The Teacher filmed?

Interestingly, while the drama is supposedly set in West Yorkshire, The Teacher was in fact filmed thousands of miles away in Budapest, Hungary. The question is: Why didn’t the drama’s creators film a little closer to home?

Mike Benson, The Teacher’s creator and executive producer, revealed that the cast and crew spent six weeks in Budapest filming the series due to “funding” reasons. "We had to film in Budapest for funding reasons, and the team has done a fantastic job making it look like Bradford,” said Benson to Wales Online.

The producer added: “It was challenging and at times felt like a pressure cooker given lockdown restrictions limited how much cast and crew could socialise and relax together. There were points when I didn't think we would get through it, but fortunately, we had a really professional team and we managed it."

Despite the unusual filming conditions, however, viewers will likely not be able to tell that series is not actually filmed in the northern city. As Director Dominic Leclerc explained to Radio Times, he took advice for the series from real Bradford-based teachers in his family and The Teacher’s controversial grooming plot was the result “of a lot of research across a whole range of real-life incidents.”

"My mum was Head of English at a secondary school in Bradford where the series is set,” said Leclerc, adding “my sister is a teacher and my best friend works at a college in Bradford, so I spoke to them a lot. We wanted to be informed."

The Teacher starts on Channel 5 on Jan. 31 from 9 p.m.