College Girls is a Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 series, first transmitted in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 from 8 September 2002. The documentary followed the lives of six students who studied at St Hilda's College, Oxford

St Hilda's College, Oxford

St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.The college was founded in 1893 as a hall for women, and remained an all-women's college until 2006....

, the last remaining single-sex college at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

, between 1998 and 2001.

Background

Series producer Anna Hall and director Kevin Sim, both former students at the university, developed the idea for the series. They felt a documentary should be made that would show the reality of life as a student at Oxford rather than the clichéd image seen in shows such as Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. Waugh wrote that the novel "deals with what is theologically termed 'the operation of Grace', that is to say, the unmerited and unilateral act of love by...

. It was felt that choosing St Hilda’s would be of additional interest as it would allow “an examination of women at the beginning of the 21st century”. The college was in the news due to controversial votes by the fellow

Fellow

A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...

s as to whether it should retain its single-sex status. The college were concerned for the welfare of students involved in the project, and also feared that they may not be treated fairly by media coverage without any editorial control, but with the support of college fellow Sally Mapstone, permission was granted. The Channel 4 documentary team were allowed access to the college for up to 40 days per year.

The students

The students featured in the series included:

Lucy Aitkins – Student who was ambitious to progress through the ranks of the Oxford Union

Oxford Union

The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...

. Was the primary focus of the second episode, which saw her elected as librarian, only to be stripped of the position through breaking the union’s policies on electioneering. Later elected union president and went on to become a Fulbright Scholar

Fulbright Program

The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...

 at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

.

Natasha ("Tash") Etherington- Languages student from Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace, London

Crystal Palace is a residential area in south London, England named from the former local landmark, The Crystal Palace, which occupied the area from 1854 to 1936. The area is located approximately 8 miles south east of Charing Cross, and offers impressive views over the capital...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Admitted she didn’t set out to study at Oxford originally and rarely appeared at ease while studying at the college. She said her life felt "so much better in every way" whilst studying in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in her third year. Was the college’s LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 representative.

Afshan Ghani – Medicine student from south Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, of Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i origin. Appeared shy when in Oxford. The series saw her visit the poor village where her mother grew up in the Punjab

Punjab region

The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...

. Took to wearing the hijab

Hijab

The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....

.

Ruth Hunt –The college’s JCR

Common Room (university)

In some universities in the United Kingdom — particularly collegiate universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Durham — students and the academic body are organised into common rooms...

 president. Came out as a lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 during an interview in the college garden.

Laura Paskell-Brown – a socialist from the Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 area, who studied Politics. First appears whilst selling the Socialist Worker

Socialist Worker

Socialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...

 magazine with her parents. Became embroiled in a storm of controversy surrounding her refusal to pay means-tested tuition fees, which were compulsory for the first time at English universities in 1998. Fell in love with a Conservative and got married in the final episode.

Reaction

The series was filmed at a cost of £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

1m and was heavily promoted in the national press when first transmitted, as Channel 4’s flagship documentary series for the autumn season, and initially received strong praise. The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

 commented that "a Hollywood

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...

 scriptwriter would find it hard to improve on the unfolding storylines", and A. A. Gill

A. A. Gill

Adrian Anthony Gill is a British writer who uses the byline A. A. Gill. He is currently employed by The Sunday Times as their restaurant reviewer and television critic and Vanity Fair magazine as a restaurant reviewer...

 rated the series as "one of the best documentaries of this type for years" in The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times (UK)

The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...

.

However viewing figures were not as high as hoped and, despite the production team being delighted with the project at first, Channel 4 changed their attitude to the show once broadcasts were underway. Tim Gardam

Tim Gardam

Tim Gardam MBE is a British journalist and educator.Gardam is the son of the novelist Jane Gardam. He studied at Westminster School and gained a double first in English from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He subsequently worked at the BBC , and as director of programmes at Channel 4...

, head of programmes at Channel 4, told one of the students involved that the films "lacked life and were too mannered to do justice to the strength of character and interest (the production team) had been allowed to document". The channel shortened the series' run by skipping the fifth episode and instead transmitted the season finale on 6 October 2002.

Missing episode

Channel 4 were heavily criticised for their decision not to transmit the fifth episode, which discussed with the students' sexualities and the latest poll on whether to admit male students and academics. Peter Dale, head of documentaries, denied that the decision was ratings-related, he said the episode was dropped because it was "a little bit pretentious" and felt the series may not have been delivering what the audience wanted. College principal Lady English said that the college was not informed of the decision prior to the series' end and felt the broadcaster owed the college and the film's participants "an explanation and an apology". She also suggested that the channel should have voiced their complaints about the fifth episode during editing, and not once the broadcast of the series was underway. Ruth Hunt discussed her sexuality on camera in the untransmitted episode and wrote to Channel 4 expressing her "hurt and disappointment" over the handling of the episode. Sally Mapstone felt that the episode that was skipped was key to the story, commenting "the irony is that, by censoring the one film where the girls talk most frankly about themselves, Channel 4 has skewed the whole emphasis of the series".

The decision not to edit the final episode left some plot elements confused- Laura was shown marrying her Conservative partner but their engagement was skipped in the fifth episode.

Perceptions of the university, Channel 4's attitude

Sally Mapstone also said she feared the series’s cancellation was a response to the public perception of Oxford as elitist. Kevin Sim added that he felt that critics of the series were using the show as an excuse to "express their long-cherished hatred of Oxford as an elitist institution". He said it was brave of the network to invest in the series in 1998 but should have publicised it more.

The series was criticised by students in Oxford for appearing to depict an overly intense atmosphere throughout, and for being pre-occupied with scandals, rather than providing a balanced portrayal of life at the university, as it set out to do.

Sim added that the channel’s behaviour illustrated a shift from their previously highbrow aspirations and was now very risk-averse in reality: "The programmes were commissioned four years ago, before Channel 4's culture was stood on its head by Big Brother

Big Brother (UK)

Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...

". He asked for his name to be removed from the credits

Motion picture credits

-Opening credits:Opening credits, in a television program, motion picture, or video game, are shown at the beginning of a show and list the most important members of the production. They are usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in...

of the final episode.