Educating Yorkshire reboot almost didn’t happen – but key issues changed Mr Burton’s mind

But Mr Burton hasn't just became headteacher, and this isn't the first time Channel 4 asked to take cameras back into the secondary school.

After Burton was appointed as headteacher, the production company behind the original series, TwoFour, reached out to see if he'd be interested in returning to Educating Yorkshire, but it was a firm no.

"It was a perfect story: Mr Burton, who was the English teacher with Musharaf. The big, famous episode in the first series, was now head teacher. So here's the sort of perfect story," said creative director David Clews in a Q&A ahead of the series launch.

"But Matthew obviously was like, 'No. I'm starting out as a head teacher. The school's got to come first.' And that was always the most important thing."

Clews explained it took "a number of years" of talking before deciding to go ahead, and then the pandemic hit which slowed down the process further.

Clews continued: "After that, [he'd] then been a head teacher for five or six years and it felt like the world had changed so much, and in terms of young people and all the issues with the teachers, so the timing felt like a sort of right time to do it.

"Matt and the trust were sort of open to the conversation, but it [was a] very detailed process that takes a long time."

Burton added that the "most important thing" for the teachers was ensuring that the students and staff were looked after, which was, and still is, the absolute "bottom line".

"When we got to the conversation of whether it would happen, it is a complex nuance discussion about whether it should, whether it will," Burton continued. "And we got to the point where actually the alignment between TwoFour and us a school and a trust is hugely important and it wouldn't have worked without that."

The return of Educating Yorkshire was first announced last year, with commissioner Rita Daniels saying at the time: "Telling the complex story of young people in Britain in 2025 is crucial for Channel 4, and what better way to do so than through this iconic, much-loved school?"

She noted that the series will see "how practices have developed and adapted since the burgeoning impact of social media, the COVID epidemic and the intense pressure to deliver good results".

Educating Yorkshire 2025 will premiere on Channel 4 on Sunday 31st August at 8pm.

Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.