Chalk is a British television sitcom set in a comprehensive school named Galfast High. Two series, both written by Steven Moffat, were broadcast on BBC1 in 1997. Like Moffat's earlier sitcom Joking Apart, Chalk was produced by Andre Ptaszynski for Pola Jones.
The series focuses upon deputy headteacher Eric Slatt (David Bamber), permanently stressed over the chaos he creates both by himself and some of his eccentric staff. His wife Janet (Geraldine Fitzgerald) and new English teacher Suzy Travis (Nicola Walker) attempt to help him solve the problems.
Because of the very good reaction of the studio audience, a second series was commissioned before the first had been broadcast. However, journalists were critical of the show, highlighting stylistic similarities to Fawlty Towers. Some members of the teaching profession and its unions objected to the negative representation of teachers and the comprehensive system. The second series did not receive a stable broadcast slot, with many episodes aired after 10pm. The first series was released on DVD in December 2008.
Production Inception Steven Moffat left his job as an English teacher at Cowdenknowes High in Greenock to write the BAFTA Award-winning show Press Gang. However, its high cost and changes in the executive structure at Central Independent Television meant that the show might not be recommissioned after its second series.Steven Moffat & Julia Sawalha, "The Big Finish?" Press Gang: Series 2 DVD audio commentary, Network DVD As the writer wondered what to do next and was worried about future employment, Bob Spiers, Press Gangs primary director, suggested that he meet with producer Andre Ptaszynski to discuss writing a sitcom. Inspired by his experience in education (in addition to his own former career, his father was a headteacher), the writer's initial proposal was similar to what would become Chalk. However, Ptaszynski realised that Moffat was talking more passionately at the meeting at the Groucho Club about his impending divorce and suggested that he write about that instead.Andre Ptaszynski and Steven Moffat, Joking Apart, Series 2, Episode 1 DVD audio commentary, ReplayDVD That idea became Joking Apart, which received low audience figures but a high rating on the Appreciation Index. In an interview with The Herald, Moffat reflected on the nature of writing from experience: "I don't think you have an alternative to writing about what you know. You've no life experience to go on other than your own. Even if you're writing something you think is entirely remote from you—Star Trek, for instance—you'll find the finished result is actually very close to your own experience. That's not a conscious decision a writer makes—it's an inevitability."
After the second series of Joking Apart had been transmitted, Ptaszynski revived Moffat's original idea about a sitcom set in a school.After the Chalk Dust Settled, featurette on Chalk Series 1 DVD, ReplayDVD.co.uk, prod. & dir. Craig Robins In an article for The Guardian newspaper, writer and comedian Richard Herring observed that Moffat has not used the show "as a soapbox from which to satirise the government's educational policy, preferring to concentrate on being funny ... yet beneath it all is a much more broadly satirical swipe at the implicit pointlessness of the way we are educated." For this article, Moffat told Herring:
Secondary School is a big waste of time. What are French teachers doing? None of us can speak French. How much maths can you do? Do you know any history? What is the point in training people to do things that none of us can do? The system seems designed to qualify you for the Indian Civil Service in 1911. We all leave school unable to drive! Now that would be quite handy.
Moffat discussed similar institutional and political issues with The Independent:
Staffrooms are funny places, full of articulate, mad people. They have a tremendous sense of black humour, but there's a layer of dust over them. They are immature because they're in a children's environment all the time. They have a strange perspective; because they spend all day with kids, they are more aware of kids' culture than adults'. When they read about a former pupil who has become head of ICI, they always say, 'But that boy's an idiot. He's crap at geography.' The boy is condemned forever because in the 1960s he didn't know all the capitals of the Third World.
The Independent reported that Moffat "stresses that Chalk is a sitcom, not some banner-waving, agitprop pamphlet", but is still "passionate about education". Moffat criticises "the [Conservative] government talk about the specially talented needing more education, but that's absurd, the equivalent of hospitals for the healthy." Moffat expected that teachers would find the show funny because it "has certain notes of accuracy", recognising familiar myths such as the dead teacher and teachers' contempt for their pupils. Moffat continued to say that teachers would "also recognise the pathological preference for science over arts and all that league-table shit. An official teaching organisation couldn't say, 'It's a very faithful portrayal,' but I hope they'd say, 'It's a comedy series. Why take it seriously?' You couldn't claim it is the most flattering series, but, there again, people continued to stay at hotels after Fawlty Towers."
As with Joking Apart, Ptaszynski produced Chalk for independent production company Pola Jones. The positive reaction of the studio audience during recording of the first series in 1996 propelled executives to commission a second set of six episodes before the first batch had aired.
Recording
All of the location shots for Chalk were filmed at the beginning of the production block. Acland Burghley School, in the Tufnell Park area of Camden, London, provided the exterior of the fictional Galfast High. The cast recall that it was difficult to perform comedy on location without a studio audience to gauge the reception and success of the jokes. Another school near Wembley was used for large interior shots, such as the school hall featured in the episode "The Inspection". Rehearsals took place in BBC premises in Acton, west London, colloquially known by those in the industry as the "Acton Hilton". David Bamber, his colleagues note, knew the script at the beginning of rehearsals and never dropped a line."Suzy Arrives", DVD audio commentary, Chalk Series 1 DVD, ReplayDVD The cast recall that director Juliet May provided a calm working environment; rather than losing her temper when things went wrong, she instead focussed everyone's mind on how to solve the problem.
After the exterior shots had been filmed, the episodes were recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Most of the episodes were recorded in studios three or four, but occasionally the larger studio eight was used. After a week's rehearsals, the episodes were filmed on Sundays. The cast and crew would have a camera rehearsal followed by a dress run. After a supper, the cast were introduced to the studio audience. The studio audience responded very positively to the show during recordings. However, Moffat reflects that the show's style was not suited to the home audience. In a 2012 interview, he says:
Of any sitcom I've ever witnessed being made, and I've seen loads of them like Men Behaving Badly and The Vicar of Dibley, Chalk had the biggest laughs on the night. As a piece of theatre it was brilliant in the studio—people came back every week; the audiences were rapturous. The trouble was when I watched the tape at home, it was far too loud and raucous [for TV].
The BBC commissioned a second series based on the studio audience reactions during recordings. As development on series two had reached a relatively late stage when the first had received negative reviews upon transmission, it was too late to cancel the production. The cast and crew, then, had to work on a show which they knew was widely disliked. Moffat reflects on the experience: "There's no feeling on earth like working on a show that you know is doomed and already tanking."
BBC executives insisted that the title be changed as they felt that "Chalk" did not stand out in the schedules. They were also concerned that the title might be somewhat anachronistic because schools were beginning to use whiteboards rather than blackboards. Many people, including the actors, attempted to think of alternatives, but instead reverted to "Chalk".
Funding was running low towards the end of filming the first series. Moffat contrived an episode, "The Staff Meeting", where all of the main cast would be locked in the staff room to avoid paying for any guest actors. To reduce expenditure further, crew members were enlisted to provide the voices for the television news report at the end of the episode: producer Andre Ptaszynski played the broadcast journalist, whilst second assistant director Sarah Daman voiced the protesting student Gail Bennett. When a guest actor delivered an inadequate performance of the psychiatric doctor at the end of "The Inspection", Moffat coached assistant director Stacey Adair to perform the line. However, professional actor C.J. Allen lived near to the location and he was enlisted to deliver the line instead."The Inspection", DVD audio commentary, Chalk Series 1 DVD, ReplayDVD
The expense and restrictions placed upon child actors limited the number of pupils that could be featured. The non-speaking extras had to be licensed, a process that took four weeks, providing difficulties for assistant director Stacey Adair."Both Called Eric", DVD audio commentary, Chalk Series 1 DVD, ReplayDVD The episode "Both Called Eric" features Antony Costa as one of the pupils, one of his earliest TV roles before going on to appear in Grange Hill and in the boy band Blue.
Episodes
The sitcom is based at the fictional comprehensive school Galfast High. It begins with the arrival of the young new English teacher Suzie Travis (Nicola Walker). She immediately encounters the chaos of the school, a chaos enhanced by the manic Deputy Head Eric Slatt (David Bamber). The Guardian retrospectively commented that the show's "best episodes of ... manouevred their unwitting participants towards a climax of terrible sexual humiliation or violence."
Moffat integrated many references to secondary characters and locations from his previous BAFTA winning show Press Gang into Chalk. For instance, the Chalk character Eric Slatt refers to his neighbouring school Norbridge High, run by Mr Sullivan: these were the names of the school and deputy headmaster in Press Gang. The scene where Slatt is being given instructions by wire is taken from the unfilmed Press Gang movie Dead Line. The pornographic video Lesbian Spank Inferno, owned by Dan McGill in the final episode, is later referenced in the Coupling episode "Inferno". In an interview with The New York Times, Moffat admitted that the video is inspired by his then-new partner, Sue Vertue, finding a similar video in their VCR.