This is a pretty important episode in the history of "Please Sir!" as it marks the arrival of five new pupil characters who then featured in the remainder of the series. Original writers and creators John Esmonde and Bob Larbey returned so presumably set the mould for these newcomers. It is fair to say their arrival is a mixed blessing after the earlier part of the series revolving almost wholly around the staff.
The cause of this change is the arrival of 87 pupils from rival school Weaver Street which is closing. The staff speculate this may be due to plans to turn Fenn Street into a comprehensive school which could mean them having to compete for their positions with staff from the other schools, a prospect that fills them with trepidation.
The Weaver Street pupils certainly come across as more defiant and challenging than their Fenn Street counterparts who were hardly the most dedicated or obedient individuals. The leader - or ringleader - of them seems to be Terry Stringer who to Ffitchett-Brown's amazement walks out when he dares him to go home if he is unhappy with school. His cousin Gobber - an aggressive but slow-witted individual -follows him as does aspiring protest singer Des.
Based on this episode the future presence of Gobber (Charles Bolton) and Des (Billy Hamon) is going to be truly painful. The Gobber character speaks with a Neandertharl delivery and appears to be an abysmal reworking of the Dennis Dunstable character but with none of the subtlety or charm. Des is little better as he hammers away at a guitar and sings tunelessly. It's hard to know if the awful results on-screen are due to poor writing, direction or performance but it's a demoralising start. The Stringer character (Barry McCarthy) is rather better and does convey more threat.
Two new "girls" (as per "Please Sir!" tradition played by young women) also arrive - Celia (Drina Pavlovic) and Daisy (Rosemary Faith). These two girls bear some similarity to Sharon and Maureen from the first three series although Celia seems more understated than Sharon and Daisy clearly admires her friend whereas the relationship between Sharon and Maureen was more ambivalent. These two characters work quite well based on this episode. They don't make a great impact but certainly seem far more promising than Gobber and Des.
The staff continue to offer some good humour. Most notably we see Potter dramatically change his tune when he wrongly believes a visiting teacher (played by Harold Goldblatt) is going to be the new Head. He fawns before this imagined new Head much as he did with Cromwell but he then completely changes his tune with Cromwell who he now treats with disdain and tells him what he really thinks of him. This shows Potter up to be an utter opportunist in his sycophancy and that his previous devotion to the Head was far from sincere. These are funny scenes and Cromwell is predictably confused with Potter's transformation.
Altogether a solid episode. Its certainly a good thing to have some new pupil characters but compared to the classic team of the first three series they have a long way to go.