''Finbars Class'' is an Irish television

teen drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

with music video style interludes, that was broadcast for two seasons on

RTÉ Two (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...

in 1995 and 1996. The series featured Michael Sheridan as Finbar Bar, a young teacher in an Irish secondary school and a host of young actors such as

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, Jenny Maher,

Paul Walker Paul William Walker IV (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Brian O'Conner in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise. Paul Walker began his career as a child actor in the 1980s, gainin ...

Brian McFadden Brian Nicholas McFadden (born 12 April 1980) is an Irish pop singer and television presenter. He rose to fame in 1998 as a member of the Irish boy band Westlife. Following his departure from the group in 2004, McFadden released his debut solo ...

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, Andrea Edmunds,

Amelia Crowley Amelia Crowley is an Irish actress and stand-up comedian. She is known for playing Fiona Piggott on RTÉ's ''Fair City'', Deirdre Mallon in ''Derry Girls'', and for her theatre work in the UK and Ireland. Career Crowley has made film appeara ...

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, Glenn Mulhern, Amy-Joyce Hastings and veteran actor

Barry McGovern Barry McGovern (born 1948) is an Irish stage, film and television actor. Background He was educated at Castleknock College, Dublin. McGovern is a former member of the RTÉ Players and the Abbey Theatre Company. He has worked in theatre, fi ...

as the

headmaster A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role While s ...

. The show became a cult hit, with stars featuring in

pantomimes Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or f ...

. Former

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presenter

Caron Keating Caron Louisa Keating (5 October 1962 – 13 April 2004) was a British television presenter. Early life and education Keating was born on 5 October 1962 in Fulham, south-west London, to an English father with Irish roots and a Northern Irish moth ...

made a guest appearance in season 2.

Reception

Eddie Holt of

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

described the series as an "amazing form of television, more choreographed than coherent, a strange conjunction of ''Fame'' and ''Brookside''", while a 2007 compilation by John Boland of bad RTÉ dramas in the same paper described it as "twaddle". The series received recognition in the form of the Special Trophy in the Children and Adolescents Drama section of the Golden Chest International Television Festival.

References

1995 Irish television series debuts 1996 Irish television series endings Irish drama television series 1990s high school television series RTÉ original programming Musical television series {{Ireland-tv-prog-stub