The Choir

Boys Don't Sing (1) (2x1)

Air date: Feb 01, 2008

Choirmaster Gareth Malone tries to make a choir at a boys' school in Leicester to take to the Royal Albert Hall. There hasn't been any singing at the school since the 70s. Even some of the teachers think that singing is for girls. The single-sex education setting focuses the programme on issues of gender as Malone tackles the perception that "boys don’t sing". Gareth begins by putting singing back into assembly, despite opposition. Gareth finds talent in 14 year old Imran Seddiq, who has the voice of an angel but an attitude from hell. Will anyone sign up for his choir? Gareth Malone joins the teaching staff and has to work to gain the trust of fellow teachers. His ambition is to form a 100-strong, all-boys choir performing out on the stage alongside the best school choirs in the country as part of the Schools Prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall. As he tries to drive through his ambitious plans, he also has to spend time in classroom teaching, deal with the daily bureaucracy of being a teacher, and coping with staff politics.