Ackley Bridge

Ackley Bridge is a British comedy-drama series set in a multicultural academy school of the same name. The series is filmed in Halifax, West Yorkshire and it began broadcasting on Channel 4 on 7 June 2017. In the fourth series, Ackley Bridge saw a major overhaul, including different time slots, a shortened runtime, several new characters to replace cast exits and moving the series onto streaming platform All 4. The first three series of Ackley Bridge received praise from critics and viewers, who liked that the programme represented minority groups and tackled real-world issues. Main cast members Poppy Lee Friar, Amy-Leigh Hickman and Sunetra Sarker have received awards for their portrayals of their respective characters, as well as the series itself garnering awards and nominations at various ceremonies. However, the fourth series faced criticism from the public. They felt that Channel 4 moving Ackley Bridge to a 6pm time slot had led to the edgy storylines being softened and that the long-term characters did not receive enough screen-time. After a fifth series that received a late night slot, Channel 4 confirmed that they had decided not to renew Ackley Bridge further. Production In early 2017, Channel 4 announced The ABC, a six-part school drama produced by The Forge. The series follows the merger of two schools in a segregated White and Pakistani community due to budget cuts, exploring "the turbulent school experience, covering the challenges of prejudice and cultural issues in the school environment, as well as the humour, relationships and conflict had by the pupils, teachers and parents." St Catherine's Catholic High School in Halifax is used as the filming location for Ackley Bridge College. The series was later renamed Ackley Bridge. Following the Manchester Arena bombing, the first episode was re-edited prior to airing as there were scenes showing "a troubled student strap a fake bomb to himself in order to disrupt the merging of a predominantly white and a predominantly Asian school." A spokesperson commented: "In light of the tragic events in Manchester, the first episode of forthcoming drama series Ackley Bridge is being re-edited." Ahead of the first series premiere, additional content from the show was shared on Snapchat for "high school age characters to tell their stories in the way young people are" to introduce the characters.