It's March 2017 and Digital Spy is in Halifax, West Yorkshire. We're approaching the set of Channel 4's latest drama (its first in the 8pm slot since Brookside), Ackley Bridge, but as we arrive at the "studio" we feel like we've actually travelled back in time for our first day at school.
That's because this isn't a typical set, and it certainly doesn't look like a studio – our car pulls up in front of what looks like a fully functioning school.
In reality, it's a shut-down academic building that's been converted into a shooting location, and as it turns out, it didn't always look like this.
"I had my first audition here," young lead Sam Retford (who plays Corey Wilson) tells us, dressed in his full uniform. "And it just looked like an abandoned school, there was no colour in it and it was practically falling apart. I was like, 'Is my audition really here? Did they take me to the right place?'"
Walking through bright corridors now, it's impossible to imagine. "It's really funny," Maariah Hussain (Alya Nawaz) says, "because sometimes I come here, and then I go to school and there's no difference. You're coming to work, and then you're going to school, which is an actual school... So it does definitely help in terms of performance."
"It gets you in the mood, and the role," Nohail Nazir Mohammed (Riz Nawaz) agrees. "You feel the character more, because you're actually in school. My school is literally ten seconds away, so if I'm there and they need me here, I just walk up."
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All of this rich detail has been created for Channel 4's new drama, which basically sounds like Grange Hill meets Waterloo Road, but with a fairly major difference.
In West Yorkshire, several schools are segregated, with Asian children going to one establishment, and white children another. Ackley Bridge, set in a fictional Northern town, will focus on what happens at the first integrated school, with the children being mixed together for an educational experiment in multiculturalism.
But the show doesn't just bring together different generations of white people and Asian people, it also combines experienced actors and complete first-timers.
"I was never an actor, I've never done drama, never done performing arts or anything," Mohammed explains. "We got told by our teachers we were going for roles as extras, so we went to the performing arts room, and I was handed a script. I was kind of shocked – 'How do I go about this?'
"But luckily, it felt good in the audition, I felt very comfortable. And on the bus back home, I got a call to come back the next day for another audition. From then, I did four auditions, got the call and I was over the moon."
Co-star Sunetra Sarker has appeared in everything from Casualty to Doctor Who to East Is East, and she's having fun working with the newcomers. "I've gone from playing the kid in Brookside on a Channel 4 8pm slot, and now I'm playing the mother in the same slot – that's quite a nice top and tail to my career.
"I do think the kids are something else, I only wish I was as savvy when I was their age. They've got the skills, and it's been really enjoyable working with them."
"We don't want to admit how old we are, so we're all teenagers in our heads, and as actors we've all come together very well – the girls especially. Amy [Leigh Hickman], Poppy [Lee Friar], Jo [Joyner], myself, we're all on a little WhatsApp group."
Though, hopefully, they're not on their WhatsApp group on set, as during our exploration of it, we see at least one sign requesting that students keep their mobile phones switched off...
As we walk through Ackley Bridge's hallways – with only the occasional lighting rig, camera or key grip wandering around shattering the illusion – we see several posters and signs espousing multiculturalism and togetherness. One details British values for students, including phrases such as 'Democracy', 'Respect' and 'Tolerance Of Faith And Beliefs'.
We explore a classroom, and see the English teacher has pinned up pictures of inspirational writers, including Dickens, Hemingway, Randa Abdel-Fattah and Monica Ali.
Of course, race isn't the only focus of the show. "It explores loads," Retford tells us. "The face of it is the initial topic of race, but within that you've got more intricate problems, going a lot deeper into the relationships, and how the change in race affects those relationships, and different aspects of responsibility. There's definitely something in there for everyone, it's not just about white people and Asian people coming together, it's about people going about their lives."
But, in modern Britain, it's difficult to discuss issues of race and integration without the subject of Brexit looming large, and though the biggest political decision of the cast's lifetime isn't discussed on the show, Ackley Bridge does exist in its shadow.
"I think the show would have worked without Brexit, but thanks to Brexit – I never thought I'd say those words, 'thanks to Brexit' – we're able to make it relevant," Sarker says.
"We need to be brave. If we just sit on the sidelines, and if we just talk about what we want, then we don't spread the word. Television reaches into every household, we'll be reaching a very middle class family in Cambridge at the same time we reach a family in Halifax, who can relate to the same programme.
"I think it's very current, very contemporary and hugely relevant. We're starting a new ball rolling. I'm British-Asian, I was born here, my parents are born in India, and I'm a new breed of woman – we need to step up and show those characters."
As we leave the building, we feel we've learned as much as we did during any typical school day. We're looking forward to seeing what else Ackley Bridge can teach us.
Ackley Bridge starts tonight at 8pm on Channel 4.
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Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
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