Way back in 1948, British cartoonist Ronald Searle created St Trinian’s, the fictional girls’ boarding school that has become so much a part of British culture. Unlike other schools children encountered in either literature or real life St Trinian’s was unique. As Miss Fritton, the Head Mistress, put it, “In other schools girls are sent out quite unprepared into a merciless world, but when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world which has to be prepared."  No latin, no swatting and no etiquette and deportment lessons here – at St Trinian’s the girls were wicked, blotted with ink and armed  (usually with hockey sticks) and dangerous. Science lessons taught the art of explosive making and distilling alcohol and competitive sports could be fatal. Teachers had shady pasts and most parents had dubious, “unorthodox” professions.  Havoc and chaos ruled and not surprisingly, the Ministry of Education and the school’s endless creditors were determined to close it.

The cartoons were first transferred to the big screen in 1954 with “The Belles of St Trinian’s” which besides being an immense and enduring success headed a series of five films featuring such fine comedy talent as Alister Simm, George Cole and Joyce Grenfell. After a fourteen year gap an attempt to resurrect the St Trinian’s success formula failed dismally with “Wildcats of St Trinian’s” made in 1980. Which brings us to the latest school trip to the cinema for the little darlings of St T.  

Simply entitled “St Trinian’s”, the film successfully attempts to bring the school up to date – enter the Posh Tottys, Chavs, Emos, Geeks and First Years!. The plot is simple and harks back to earlier St T. themes – the Minister of Education wants the school shut and creditors are closing in. Rupert Everett follows in Alister Simm’s footseps by playing both Miss Fritton and her brother, while Colin Firth plays the government minister intent on finishing off the school for good. This position is delightfully complicated by the Minister and Miss Fritton being old flames.

What follows is funny, workable and entertaining mix of comedy and pure St Trinian’s anarchy.  Once the realisation sinks in that closure means “we go to normal schools!”, Head Girl Kelly (played by Gemma Arterton) enlists the various talents of the little darlings to execute an art heist to boost school funds while St Trinian’s finest minds do battle in a rigged TV schools quiz hosted by Stephen Fry.

St Trinian’s received a mixed reception from the public but in my opinion it works well and it works where “Wildcats” failed by staying close to the original concept. I know of some parents who objected to references to drugs and the distillation of vodka scenes but I have to say that the pill popping is confined to the party-going school secretary (forty years ago she’d have been a dipsomaniac) and if I remember rightly the girls produced Gin in previous films. But here in lies the difficulty for the screen writers – how do you convey a sense of anarchy when what was once anarchic is now commonplace in schools?

view trailer (contains minor swearing)