ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades That'll Teach 'Em

Have any fellow Brits been following the series "That'll Teach 'Em" over the last few weeks?

The producers took a bunch of present-day students (last year of school, so aged about 16) and put them through 4 weeks of school as it would have been in a typical British Secondary Modern school of the 1960s to see how they'd cope with the different subject, different exams, different discipline, etc.

In the last episode this week the girls took their domestic science exam, and mixed in with the cookery was a test on how to wire a plug.

It was only on-screen for a brief moment, but did anybody else notice the mistake?

Damn! I didn't realise that was back on again I watched the first series...it generated more recollections than I care to admit!

Do tell us more Paul!...

Oh, so it's back on TV there again,
Paul?.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw the programme, reality TV as it should be!.
I can only guess at what that could be.
Did the kids not have thier white lab coats on, as in this thread?
Or where they given a 15A unfused plug to wire?.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 09-18-2004).]

LOL! No labcoats, but plenty of aprons for the cookery and woodwork classes.

UK,
I saw that first series as well (kids put through a few weeks of 1950s-style education). The thing that sticks in my mind from that first run is the exam results.

The 16-year-olds were all slated to get passes in their GCSE's, the modern exams taken by school-leavers. One of the first things they did at their "1950s" school was to sit what they assumed to be O-level papers, the equivalent exams before the GCSE was introduced. Over half of them flunked miserably (results down in the 20% range in some cases).

It was then revealed that the exams they had taken were not in fact old O-levels intended for 16-year olds, but a 1950s "11-plus" paper, an exam given to 11-year-olds to assess their skills for entering high school.

Anyway, back to the second series, and the mistake wasn't the wrong type of plug, but the wrong type of flex. We were told that this was supposed to be the mid-1960s, yet the cord they had been given to wire up correctly had brown, blue, & green/yellow color coding. At the time in question, Britain was still using our traditional red/black/green. Oops!

P.S. BS546 (round-pin) plugs were still in widespread use in the 1960s, although BS1363 was being used for most new installations, other than "special" applications such as theatres.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 09-19-2004).]

I have some good news for you then!

I've just seen in the TV listings that this series is having its five episodes screened again in the mornings next week.

Starting Monday September 27
"Channel 4" 9:30 a.m. - 10:20 a.m.
Then the same time each day through to Friday.

Better fire up the VCR

For those outside the influence of British TV who have no idea what we're talking about, have a look at the TV station's webpage:

The First Series

Second Series


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 09-25-2004).]