On the 5th of March, the Black Music Research Unit hosted an exclusive premiere of Season 3, Episode 1 of Boarders at the Regent Street Cinema. Over 150 people attended, including the production crew, and most of the cast members of the show. Boarders has been tied to Westminster for three seasons now, with our music students providing original music for all episodes and Professor Mykaell Riley working with the show’s directors, producers and editors as music supervisor. The show has resulted in over 34 IMDB credits for University of Westminster students, and has offered them the opportunity to have their music featured in a leading BBC TV show. The evening consisted of networking opportunities for our students with people across the film, tv and music industries, a screening of the first episode, and 2 Q and A panels: one with the cast members, and another with UoW music students featured in the show, Prof. Mykaell Riley, and the show’s writer, Daniel Lawrence-Taylor. It was a fantastic evening – both to mount excitement for the new series and to celebrate the incredible work that has gone into the show from our students.
Speaking about the event, Prof. Riley said: “Boarders gave us something rare, a production team that genuinely believed students belonged in the room. At the screening, our student composers, performers, and producers were networking on the same footing as the other professionals. Three series later, we have a collection and network of graduates with broadcast experience most professionals spend years chasing. That’s what happens when a university stops talking about employability and starts creating it.”
You can watch Boarders on BBC iPlayer now.