Once on the camping trip Mr. Hedges pursues Penny Wheeler, a local part-time barmaid, and the class indulge in their usual activities: Dennis relishes the clean air and rural surroundings and befriends a gypsy boy named Nobbler; meanwhile 5C engage in a feud with stereotypical upper-class pupils from the posh Boulters School, which is resolved after a false rape allegation from Sharon.

[8] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The episodes of the three-year-old TV comedy series about a young master's disciplinary problems in a tough, London comprehensive school last for an ample thirty minutes apiece.

This film version plays up the original's already embarrassing tendency to use illiteracy, race and imbecility as primary sources of humour, while padding out its material to feature length with some laboured mugging and gross caricature.

Recurring and lovingly-held closeups of John Alderton dithering, Deryck Guyler smirking, and Joan Sanderson glaring prove poor substitutes for comic invention, which seems to have been lost somewhere along the school's journey from urban to rural surroundings.

And though the series may originally have claimed a degree of authenticity in its depiction of present-day pupil-teacher relationships, it's particularly hard to take these seriously now that most of Hedges' pupils (with the notable exception of Liz Gebhardt) look a good ten years too old for their parts.

John Alderton is good as the put-upon form teacher, but the few funny moments belong to Joan Sanderson as the headmaster's formidable assistant.