Boarders creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor talks ending his beloved comedy show: "I want to keep making work about the Black experience"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

There was an awkward moment during Sir Lenny Henry’s address to the Royal Television Society in 2019 when, having lavished praise on Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s BAFTA-nominated comedy Timewasters, he asked the ITV execs in the audience if the show would be returning for a third series. Met with embarrassed clearing of throats, Henry went on to speak of the “two-season jinx” that seemed to bedevil projects with Black leads and writers.

But here’s the good news: seven years on, Taylor’s follow-up show, Boarders, has made it to series three on the BBC. The curse, it seems, has lifted. “Yeah, that feels so good,” grins the writer and performer, at home in south London. “You wouldn’t believe the number of Black creators who’ve mentioned that to me. Just the other day I was speaking to Adjani Salmon [writer-star of BBC Three’s Dreaming Whilst Black] and he said, ‘I can’t believe you’ve done it!’”

Launched on BBC Three in 2024, Boarders is a culture-clash comedy-drama about five underprivileged Black sixth-formers on a scholarship to a very posh, very white, private boarding school. It’s a show with a big heart – and a message that’s no less powerful for being delivered with a lightness of touch.

“First and foremost, it’s a piece of entertainment,” explains Taylor, who also takes a role in the series as the students’ mentor. “When I sold the show, the first thing I spoke about was friendships and relationships… That’s front and centre. It’s just that the backdrop is a bit different for these particular kids than it is in Harry Potter.

“I knew I could say something with this piece, about how a part of society experiences the world. But I also wanted to show the joy in things. Growing up where I did, I faced some difficult times, but I always tried to push through it with a smile on my face. I believe humour can be a more effective weapon than anger. That’s how I’ve always seen the world.”

The show was inspired by a newspaper article about five Black boys who had earned a scholarship to Rugby School. “It just resonated with me,” recalls Taylor, who has two young daughters with his wife Tess. “I didn’t go to boarding school, but growing up in south London and then going to a predominantly white, middle-class university [he has a drama and theatre degree from Royal Holloway, which is based in Surrey], it was a completely alien world. When I came back to London, people said that my accent had changed. I’d started morphing into the people at university, to try to fit in. It was a survival thing.”

Taylor – who formed comedy duo Ginger and Black with his uni friend Eri Jackson, and later appeared in sitcoms such as Uncle and The Inbetweeners – lays much of his success at the door of his mum, who came to England from Jamaica as a child, and went on to raise five children as a single parent, while working multiple jobs. She also helped forge his love of comedy.

“We used to all sleep in my mum’s room. I’d be on the floor, my sister and brothers would be in the bed, and we’d watch reruns of Desmond’s, The Real McCoy and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In Fresh Prince, Uncle Phil was a Black activist lawyer, and Aunt Viv taught African-American studies. It was a comedy, but it was saying something of the time. And that’s just embedded itself into my work, I think.

“Representation is such a big thing. The response to Boarders from young Black boys, in particular, has been amazing. But it’s still a bit of a battle,” he admits, of being one of the UK’s very few Black showrunners. “We need to make sure we keep the momentum going, because Black creators have got a lot of amazing stories to tell.”

Series three sees Femi (Aruna Jalloh), Leah (Jodie Campbell), Jaheim (Josh Tedeku), Omar (Myles Kamwendo) and Toby (Sekou Diaby) embarking on their final term at St Gilbert’s. Though this is the last series of Boarders, it’s a creative choice, not a commissioning one. “With so many TV shows nowadays, you never get to finish the story,” says Taylor. “So the fact I’m able to tie things up and send everyone out into the world is lovely. Though I do feel a bit sad to be saying goodbye.”

As he waves off the class of ’26, Taylor is looking ahead, too, having signed a first-look deal with Boarders’ production company, Studio Lambert, which is also behind The Traitors. “Yeah, they did say I can come and visit the castle, which I think was a nice way of saying they don’t want me in the show,” he laughs.

“I want to keep making work about the Black experience,” he continues, when asked what’s next. “I want to keep pushing boundaries. My next project will definitely be on a much bigger scale. I’m excited for whatever comes my way.”

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Boarders season 3 is available on Sunday 15 March from 6am on BBC iPlayer and begins at 10pm on BBC Three.

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