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Entertainment
Simon Duke

Channel 5's The Teacher leaves viewers on edge as Sheridan Smith leads cast in scandalous thriller

Channel 5 viewers have admitted to being left on edge and unsure on who to trust as The Teacher made its chilling debut on Monday night.

After what seemed like an eternity of adverts for the highly anticipated drama, it kicked off in the 9pm slot, up against well received Martin Freeman drama The Responder on BBC1.

The Teacher sees former Cilla and The Moorside star Sheridan Smith as high school teacher Jenna Garvey, who likes to work hard and party header, much to the eye brow raising concern of some of her colleagues.

The first episode started with Jenna turning up to school rather hazy after a night out, with her partying then taking a turn for the worse after co-worker Jack, played by Kelvin Fletcher, stood her up and she headed to the local night club alone, after leaving him an angry voice note.

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With her father a well respected former head of the school she teaches in, Jenna earned a career boosting promotion when she was made Head of English, after going up against work place rival Nina.

However, it was the night of her heading out to celebrate her new job that saw Jenna's partying spiral out of control with life changing consequences.

After getting close to underage pupil Kyle in the club, Jenna woke up to no recollection of the night before and headed into school on Monday blissfully unaware that a report of inappropriate conduct with a pupil had been made against her.

As she tried to comprehend the dire situation she found herself in,she was arrested by police on suspicion of sexual activity with a minor and then faced intensive questioning, while not being sure of what happened because she couldn't remember.

And then, in a harrowing moment right before credits rolled, Jenna listened to a voicemail on her phone from Kyle, in which he told her how much he'd enjoyed having sex to her, much to her horror.

The Teacher was a hot topic on Twitter throughout its first episode and as credits rolled, viewers rushed to give their opinions.

One reacted: "Well the opener was brilliant," with a second posting: "Got us gripped so far looks intriguing."

A third tweeted: "Absolutely hooked already"

A teaser for Tuesday's second episode read:s "Jenna's life falls apart after being formally charged with having sex with a minor, with the press getting hold of her story.

"She loses her job, her friends fall away and her self-esteem shrinks further as she's forced to stay with her cold, critical father. "

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