College Girls | |
---|---|
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of episodes | 6 (1 unbroadcast) |
Production | |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Channel 4 |
Release | 8 September – 6 October 2002 |
College Girls is a Channel 4 documentary series, first transmitted in the United Kingdom from 8 September 2002. The documentary followed the lives of six students who studied at St Hilda's College, Oxford, the last remaining single-sex college at the University of Oxford, between 1998 and 2001.
Series producer Anna Hall and director Kevin Sim, both former students at the university, developed the idea for the series. They felt a documentary should be made that would show the reality of life as a student at Oxford rather than the clichéd image seen in shows such as Brideshead Revisited. It was felt that choosing St Hilda's would be of additional interest as it would allow "an examination of women at the beginning of the 21st century". The college was in the news due to controversial votes by the fellows as to whether it should retain its single-sex status. The college were concerned for the welfare of students involved in the project, and also feared that they may not be treated fairly by media coverage without any editorial control, but with the support of college fellow Sally Mapstone, permission was granted. The Channel 4 documentary team were allowed access to the college for up to 40 days per year. [1]
The students featured in the series included:
Lucy Aitkens—Student who was ambitious to progress through the ranks of the Oxford Union. Was the primary focus of the second episode, which saw her elected as librarian, only to be stripped of the position through breaking the union's policies on electioneering. Later elected union president and went on to become a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University.
Natasha ("Tash") Etherington—Languages student from Crystal Palace, London. Admitted she didn't set out to study at Oxford originally and rarely appeared at ease while studying at the college. She said her life felt "so much better in every way" whilst studying in Paris in her third year. Was the college's LGBT representative.
Afshan Ghani—Medicine student from south Wales, of Pakistani origin. Appeared shy when in Oxford. The series saw her visit the poor village where her mother grew up in the Punjab. Took to wearing the hijab.
Ruth Hunt—The college's JCR president. Came out as a lesbian during an interview in the college garden.
Laura Paskell-Brown—A socialist from the Manchester area, who studied Politics. First appears whilst selling the Socialist Worker magazine with her parents. Became embroiled in a storm of controversy surrounding her refusal to pay means-tested tuition fees, which were compulsory for the first time at English universities in 1998. Fell in love with a Conservative and got married in the final episode.
The series was filmed at a cost of £1m and was heavily promoted in the national press when first transmitted, [1] [2] as Channel 4's flagship documentary series for the autumn season, and initially received strong praise. The Daily Telegraph commented that "a Hollywood scriptwriter would find it hard to improve on the unfolding storylines", and A. A. Gill rated the series as "one of the best documentaries of this type for years" in The Sunday Times. [1] [3]
However viewing figures were not as high as hoped and, despite the production team being delighted with the project at first, Channel 4 changed their attitude to the show once broadcasts were underway. Tim Gardam, head of programmes at Channel 4, told one of the students involved that the films "lacked life and were too mannered to do justice to the strength of character and interest (the production team) had been allowed to document". [3] The channel shortened the series' run by skipping the fifth episode and instead transmitted the season finale on 6 October 2002. [4]
Channel 4 were heavily criticised for their decision not to transmit the fifth episode, which discussed the students' sexualities and the latest poll on whether to admit male students and academics. Peter Dale, head of documentaries, denied that the decision was ratings-related; he said the episode was dropped because it was "a little bit pretentious" and felt the series may not have been delivering what the audience wanted. College principal Lady English said that the college was not informed of the decision before the series ended and felt the broadcaster owed the college and the film's participants "an explanation and an apology". She also suggested that the channel should have voiced their complaints about the fifth episode during editing, and not once the broadcast of the series was underway. Ruth Hunt discussed her sexuality on camera in the untransmitted episode and wrote to Channel 4 expressing her "hurt and disappointment" over the handling of the episode. Sally Mapstone felt that the episode that was skipped was key to the story, commenting "the irony is that, by censoring the one film where the girls talk most frankly about themselves, Channel 4 has skewed the whole emphasis of the series". [3]
The decision not to edit the final episode left some plot elements confused- Laura was shown marrying her Conservative partner but their engagement was skipped in the fifth episode. [4]
Sally Mapstone also said she feared the series's cancellation was a response to the public perception of Oxford as elitist. Kevin Sim added that he felt that critics of the series were using the show as an excuse to "express their long-cherished hatred of Oxford as an elitist institution". He said it was brave of the network to invest in the series in 1998 but should have publicised it more. [3]
The series was criticised by students in Oxford for appearing to depict an overly intense atmosphere throughout, and for being pre-occupied with scandals, rather than providing a balanced portrayal of life at the university, as it set out to do. [4]
Sim added that the channel's behaviour illustrated a shift from their previously highbrow aspirations and was now very risk-averse in reality: "The programmes were commissioned four years ago, before Channel 4's culture was stood on its head by Big Brother". He asked for his name to be removed from the credits of the final episode. [3]
Coronation Street is a British television soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced street in the fictional Weatherfield, a town based on inner-city Salford, England.
Victoria Wood was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades and her live comedy act was interspersed with her own compositions which she performed at the piano. Much of her humour was grounded in everyday life and included references to activities, attitudes and products that are considered to exemplify Britain. She was noted for her skills in observational comedy and in satirising aspects of social class.
St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon saint Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it remained a women's college until 2008. St Hilda's was the last single-sex college in the university as Somerville College had admitted men in 1994. The college now has almost equal numbers of men and women at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Victor Lewis-Smith was a British film, television and radio producer, a television and restaurant critic, a satirist and newspaper columnist. He was executive producer of the ITV1 Annual National Food & Drink Awards. He was an alumnus of the University of York and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Westminster in November 2008.
University Challenge is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. University Challenge aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC revived the programme on 21 September 1994, the programme's 32nd anniversary, with Jeremy Paxman as the quizmaster. Paxman relinquished his role as host following the conclusion of the 52nd series in 2023, after which he was succeeded by Amol Rajan. In October 2022, an ITV documentary, Paxman: Putting Up With Parkinson's, explored how Parkinson's disease has impacted him and revealed that Paxman recorded his very last episode of University Challenge on 15 October 2022, which aired on 29 May 2023.
Sally Elizabeth Phillips is an English actress, comedian, and television presenter. She co-created and was one of the writers of the sketch comedy show Smack the Pony. She is also known for her roles in Jam & Jerusalem as Natasha "Tash" Vine, Miranda as Tilly, I'm Alan Partridge as Sophie, Parents as Jenny Pope, Set the Thames on Fire as Colette in 2015, Zapped as Slasher Morgan, and her guest appearances as the fictional Prime Minister of Finland Minna Häkkinen in the US TV series Veep. Phillips also co-starred in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as Mrs Bennet and in the role of Shazza in all three films of the Bridget Jones franchise.
Hollyoaks is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera Brookside. From 2005 to 2023, episodes have aired on sister channel E4 a day prior to their broadcast on Channel 4. In 2023, Hollyoaks was removed from Channel 4's early evening schedule, but remains on E4 and Channel 4's on demand service with episodes now uploaded to YouTube.
Emilia Rose Elizabeth Fox is an English actress and presenter whose film debut was in Roman Polanski's film The Pianist (2002). Her other films include the Italian–French–British romance-drama film The Soul Keeper (2002), for which she won the Flaiano Film Award for Best Actress; the drama film The Republic of Love (2003); the comedy-drama film Things to Do Before You're 30 (2005); the black comedy Keeping Mum (2005); the romantic comedy-drama film Cashback (2006); the drama Flashbacks of a Fool (2008); the drama film Ways to Live Forever (2010); the drama-thriller A Thousand Kisses Deep (2011); and the fantasy-horror drama film Dorian Gray (2009).
Katherine Mary Humble is an English television presenter and narrator, mainly working for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes. Humble served as president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) from 2009 until 2013. She is an ambassador for the UK walking charity Living Streets.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch is an American television sitcom created by Nell Scovell, based on the Archie Comics series of the same name. It premiered on September 27, 1996, on ABC to over 17 million viewers in its "T.G.I.F." lineup.
Sarah-Jane Abigail Lancashire is an English actress. Known for her work in television and theatre, she has received numerous accolades over a career spanning four decades, including two British Academy Television Awards and a nomination for an Olivier Award. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2017 for services to drama.
Kirsten Lindsey O'Brien is an English television presenter and actress. She is perhaps best known for her work presenting for the BBC, including the popular CBBC art programme SMart from 1999 to 2009, and CBeebies pre-school art spin-off programme SMarteenies in 2002.
Paul Marquess is a television producer from Belfast, Northern Ireland. His credits include Brookside, The Bill, Family Affairs, Hollyoaks, Crime Stories, Suspects and Hope Street. He also originated the idea for the series Footballers' Wives. He currently holds the post of managing director of Newman Street, a label of Fremantlemedia.
Sarah Jayne Dunn is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Mandy Richardson on the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks from 1996 until 2021. In November 2021, Dunn was dropped from Hollyoaks after she joined the adult subscription service OnlyFans.
"Things Aren't Simple Any More" is the final episode of the British television sitcom One Foot in the Grave. It was written by David Renwick and stars Richard Wilson as Victor Meldrew, Annette Crosbie as his wife Margaret and features guest appearances by Hannah Gordon and Paul Merton. The episode depicts the death of the series' protagonist, Victor Meldrew, in a hit-and-run road accident and his wife's efforts to deal with the driver who killed him. Renwick had been struggling to conceive and write new stories for the series and decided to kill off the character. The episode was filmed at Shawford, Hampshire and at BBC Television Centre in London.
Fresh Meat is a British comedy-drama television series created by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, who also created Peep Show.
Dame Sally Mapstone is a British academic who has been Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews since 2016.
Educating Yorkshire is the second series of the British documentary television programme Educating broadcast on Channel 4. The eight-episode first series was first broadcast on 5 September 2013. Its format is based on the BAFTA Award-winning 2011 series Educating Essex. It follows the everyday lives of the staff and pupils of Thornhill Community Academy, a secondary school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. A Christmas special entitled Educating Yorkshire at Christmas was aired on 19 December 2013.
Educating... is a British documentary reality television programme airing on Channel 4 which first aired on 22 September 2011, the show has been running for five series. It uses a fly-on-the-wall format to show the everyday lives of the staff and pupils of secondary schools all over the UK.
Missy Booth is a fictional character from the Channel 4 school drama Ackley Bridge, portrayed by Poppy Lee Friar. Missy first appeared in the pilot episode of the series, first broadcast on 7 June 2017. She is introduced as one of the programme's two protagonists alongside best friend Nasreen Paracha. Due to growing up with numerous responsibilities including being the carer of her family, Friar described her character as a "fighter". Despite this, Missy is also seen to be a rebellious and opinionated character who is popular at school, especially with the male students. One of the main themes explored throughout the series is her friendship with Nasreen, which Channel 4 billed as the "heart of the show". Both Friar and Hickman have accredited this to their real-life friendship, which they felt mirrored their onscreen friendship.