''Coming of Age'' is a British sitcom, written by

Tim Dawson Tim Dawson (born 1988) is a British writer and political activist, best known for his work on a number of television comedies. Education He was educated at Abingdon School from 1999 to 2006. During his time at school, he was the comedy actor in ...

, produced in house by BBC Productions, and broadcast on the former channel BBC Three. The show takes a direct look at five sixth form students, Jas, Ollie, Matt, Chloe and DK, as well as, from series three, new character Robyn Crisp, who are living in Abingdon. Their lives rotate around the fictional Wooton College, their bedrooms, and Ollie's garden shed. A pilot originally aired in 2007, followed by the first series in 2008, a second series in 2010, and a third beginning in January 2011. In 2011, the show was cancelled along with other long running BBC Three programmes including ''

Ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considere ...

'', ''

Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps ''Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps'' is a British sitcom that ran from 26 February 2001 to 24 May 2011. First broadcast on BBC Two, it starred Sheridan Smith, Will Mellor, Natalie Casey, Ralf Little, Kathryn Drysdale and Luke Gell. Cr ...

'', ''

Hotter Than My Daughter ''Hotter Than My Daughter'' is a British reality television series on BBC Three hosted by Atomic Kitten member Liz McClarnon. It focuses on mother/daughter relationships in which the mothers claim to be hotter than their daughters. Premise Liz Mc ...

'', and '' Doctor Who Confidential''. The first series was released on DVD on 26 October 2009, however, no further series have been released on DVD.

Recording

''Coming of Age'' is set in Abingdon,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. Although the show consists of scenes recorded on location and pre-recorded studio scenes, most of the show is recorded in front of a live studio audience at BBC Television Centre,

White City, London White City is a district of London, England, in the northern part of Shepherd's Bush in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, 5 miles (8 km) west-northwest of Charing Cross. White City is home to Television Centre (previously th ...

. Wooton College external shots were filmed at Abingdon and Witney College, Abingdon Campus.

Theme

The ''Coming of Age'' production team joined forces with ''BBC Introducing'', a BBC-wide project that supports unsigned, undiscovered and under-the-radar artists and DJs, to find the original theme tune and sound for the show. They held a competition for six up-and-coming artists including KateGoes, to write a theme tune for the show from a written specification. KateGoes won and the theme was recorded in the studio of Richie Webb whose credits include ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'' and ''Comedy Shuffle'', to create the final theme tune for the show.

Cast

Episodes

Twenty-three episodes of ''Coming of Age'' were broadcast over the course of three series. There are number of differences between the pilot and the subsequent series. Most notably,

Alex Kew Alexander Charles Kew (born 21 October 1986) is an English actor, musician, and singer-songwriter from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. He is best known for his roles as Declan in ''2point4 Children and as Josh Barker in'' ''My Parents Are Aliens ...

and

Amy Yamazaki Amy is a female given name, sometimes short for Amanda, Amelia, Amélie, or Amita. In French, the name is spelled ''"Aimée"''. People A–E * Amy Acker (born 1976), American actress * Amy Vera Ackman, also known as Mother Giovanni (1886–19 ...

, who played Ollie and Jas in the pilot, have been replaced by Ceri Phillips and Hannah Job. Also, Dani Harmer originally played Chloe, but was replaced by Anabel Barnston. As well as new sets, the theme tune also changed, from "

Steady, As She Goes "Steady, As She Goes" is the debut single of American rock music, rock band the Raconteurs from their first album, ''Broken Boy Soldiers'' (2006). In early 2006, a limited-edition 7-inch single, 7-inch vinyl record was released as a double A-side ...

" by

The Raconteurs The Raconteurs (, also known as The Saboteurs in Australia) is an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 2005. The band consists of Jack White (vocals, guitar), Brendan Benson (vocals, guitar), Jack Lawrence (bass guitar), and Pa ...

to a specially written piece by Birmingham band KateGoes and Richie Webb.

Pilot (2007)

Series 1 (2008)

Comic Relief Special (2009)

Series 2 (2010)

Series 3 (2011)

Reception

The show proved enormously popular with its target audience from the beginning, with Series 1 enjoying an average weekly reach of 1.2 million, and each episode appearing in the top 10 requested programmes on BBC iPlayer the day following transmission. Series 2 built on this success, with the first episode premiering to 719,000 viewers. BBC Three controller Danny Cohen (who commissioned the show) noted: "I'm delighted that ''Coming Of Age'' has been such a hit with young viewers. The writer Tim Dawson and the young cast are bright emerging stars for the BBC." Despite this, the show often receives a poor reaction from television critics. Writing about the first episode, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

s ''Culture'' magazine was negative: "Crudeness abounds... but neither wit nor charm has tagged along for the ride." Harry Venning in ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'' stated that most of the show's humour "was unremittingly dire" and stated " I sat through ''Coming Of Age'' with the will to live seeping from my every pore, leaving me drenched in a puddle of despair. Apparently writer Tim Dawson was 19 when he wrote it, which is about six years older than I would have guessed." Coming of Age" https://web.archive.org/web/20081121125111/http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/feature.php/22074/tv-review''The Stage'', 13 October 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2014. Meanwhile, ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'' said simply: "''Coming of Age'' may be the worst BBC sitcom yet. It is supposedly aimed at teenagers, but I refuse to believe that even the easiest-to-please teenager is happy to accept something so horribly written, horribly acted and horribly vulgar in lieu of actual humour." However, some have been more willing to acknowledge the sitcom's appeal, with the British Comedy Guide conceding, "For its fans, it's a heightened reflection of their own experience of teenage years, with brilliantly absurd exchanges and sublime vulgarity to match."

Home releases

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coming Of Age (Bbc Tv Series) 2007 British television series debuts 2011 British television series endings 2000s British sex comedy television series 2000s British teen sitcoms 2000s college television series 2010s British sex comedy television series 2010s British teen sitcoms 2010s college television series BBC television sitcoms English-language television shows Television series about couples Television shows set in Oxfordshire Virginity in television