TV: Lenny Henry gets serious

By FRANCES GRANT

A guiding motto can be a dangerous thing, especially one inscribed on a plaque and there on the wall for all the world to appropriate.

Ambitious young head teacher Ian George makes good capital out of the battlecry he uses to inspire the assembled masses in the school hall: "If not you, who? If not now, when?"

But you just know, not long into tonight's debut episode of new BBC series Hope & Glory (TV One, 8.30), that his cherished maxim is ripe to be turned and used against him.

Like many classroom dramas, complete with a host of impressionable young minds languishing for want of a bit of love and direction, Hope & Glory promises to be the story of a heroic turnaround.

It stars comedian Lenny Henry who appears to be doing a Robin Williams - dropping his funnyman act in favour of playing a serious source of inspiration.

But Henry's character, principal Ian George, is not a teacher in conflict with the system. He's already proven his ability to transform a school from lacklustre to lustrous. His ambition and love of success is almost as strong as his desire to inspire.

George - young, black and oozing leadership qualities - is a favourite media success story and the politicians are ready to come awooing. He's a face that more than fits the image of a new, caring Britain.

Tonight's first episode is thus devoted to temptation. The ministry wants to make George their young, groovy education guru and he's being offered a big apple.

And George, already head of a thriving school, thanks to his efforts, is ripe for a new challenge. But before he takes wing, he's got a job to do: an inspection of struggling school Hope Park, a place where neglect and indifference reigns. On his word, the school will either close or live to fight another day.

Of course, as soon as he steps into the school, it's obvious he's destined to take on this graffiti-covered chaos. But the decision-making process serves to let us get to know something about his character.

In a nice touch, the embattled and cynical head of Hope Park is played by Peter Davison, who was a much more idealistic educator in the wonderfully dark A Very Peculiar Practice - a satire on the plight of universities in the darkest days of Thatcher's pay-your-own-way Britain.

Hope & Glory is the product of very different times, as that optimistic note in the title reveals. Disaster spots like Hope Park, undeserving as they appear, can be saved.

Although heads may turn at the notion of Henry playing a deeply serious, role model kind of guy, the series is made by his charisma.

When almost-as-charming Hope Park teacher Debbie Bryan (Amanda Redman) really puts the wood on him to take over as principal, there's no question it's a done deal.

A fat salary and cushy government job beckons but that useful little maxim proves Principal George's undoing. "If not you," pleads the wily Bryan, "then, who?"