Boarders star Jodie Campbell on crafting Leah for a brand new term

The Floor Mag was lucky enough to sit down with star of the returning BBC drama Boarders, Jodie Campbell, to chat about returning for a second series, school memories and the development of her character, Leah. 

Campbell is currently busy with rehearsals for her upcoming show at the Watford Palace theatre Bitch Boxer and with press for the upcoming series of Boarders. I'm greeted with a warm smile before we start discussing what this new series has to offer. The first series saw five black students; Jaheim, played by Josh Tedeku, Toby, played by Sekou Diaby, Omar, played by Myles Kamwendo, Femi, played by Aruna Jalloh and Leah, played by Campbell, who have been awarded scholarships to attend a prestigious boarding school with majority white and upper/middle class students. This series the novelty of being the new kids has worn off but the presence of the five black scholarship students is far from light. They are up to much more chaos and creating more drama between students and teachers alike.

I'm lucky enough to have seen previews of the newest series and there’s a lot more grit. Leah, played by Campbell, has been afforded more depth and range this time around. We see her peel back layers, understand who she is and uncover some of her fears.  

KOLADE: So this season is filled with lots of mischievous moments. What are some of the crazy things you've done whilst you're at school? 

JODIE: Do you know what at school? I was quite well behaved. It wasn't too bad. I did quite well in school. But I remember there was one time, I think it was around GCSE time, and I did English, so coursework, times, all of that. And I was really bad at deadlines. That's one thing I would say. And I remember one time a teacher was coming around the class asking for coursework, I had not done it. Not done at all. If I had it was like one paragraph. So I just handed her, like, five sheets of plain paper. I handed her five sheets of plain paper, and I was like, “You know what? What else can I do?” I was in the moment. 

K: And by the time she realised the class is over and you're back home and you've already

done it. 

J: Do you know what I mean? I thought ahead, but it was kind of crazy. My friend was like, “Jodie, what did you just hand in?”. I said, "Don't worry about that.”

Jodie Campbell as Leah Credit: BBC/Studio Lambert

K: And if you could go back to school and do something even crazier, what's something you would do?

J: I don't know. You know, I actually like peace. I do like peace, but just have more fun, because at school, those are like precious years. I don't know if I test the boundaries, but I would just not take everything as serious, because it's not.

K: You can never have too much fun.This season, we see your character face challenges with the new student, Devonyé. What advice would you give to young black girls who are struggling with comparing themselves?

J: I would honestly say, don't just don't like I think just to be authentically yourself is like the best thing you can put forward in the world, because at the end, there's only one of you, so just really honing in on that is something that's going to get you really far. And what is nice in series two, even though Leah does go through those challenges like with that, she's finding other parts of herself that she didn't really know existed. You find her like entering new different activities, lots of different things that she didn't know, that she liked. So that is really nice. I think Leah's just kind of finding her footing through all of that mess. 

K: I love that. That's beautiful. I think also, last series, we saw such a political side, an activist side of Leah and this time we've gotten to understand who she is a little more and we've seen her figure that out, which is beautiful to see. 

J: Yeah, 100%

Kendra Brown, Jodie Campbell and Georgina Sadler as Devonyé, Leah and Mabel Credit: BBC/Studio Lambert

K: As a cast, you're seen having fun moments. What are some of the off and on set moments outside of filming that brought you joy?

J: Oh, so many. When I tell you I love my cast, I mean it, I love my cast, I mean, the scene in episode one where the time that me and Devonyé, played by Kendra, where we mash up Carol's car. I remember that day being really funny, it was like a night shoot. So it's like 1am, we're all kind of delirious, running on nothing but delirious energy. We were having fun dancing, playing music. That was really fun. And I remember we went, me and the girls would go shopping. Assa plays Abby, she's a great shopper, and I love it. We did a few concerts. Remember during series one we went to this festival in Bristol. We got to see Erykah Badu live, we've had some amazing moments, and I'm so blessed to have such a talented cast and a cast I actually get on with so well, because sometimes it's not like that. So I'm really grateful for the Boarders cast. 

K: What concerts did you go and see? 

J: It was a concert last year, we went to Skillibeng in Bristol. It was lit. It was so fun. It was so random as well, because it was, like, in a club, like, downstairs, like, it was just a weird time, but it was so fun. We were all like, “Yeah, let's go to a concert.” So yeah, we had some really good times.

K: That's so funny because I went to a boarding school as well, in Essex, and there were so many, weird, small club nights.You're like, “what's going on?’ They'll be just playing at this, really small venue.

 J: And it's so funny because, like, not many people know the artist, but I'm a proper fan.

So yeah, I loved that.

K: For anyone who finds themselves as a minority within a majority space, what advice would you give to them?

J: I think honestly, being authentically yourself, and understanding that you're in that space for a reason. I think that's something that all five, Leah, Toby, Jaheim, Omar and Femi, they all know that they're here for a reason. It is because they're very talented. I think just keeping that in mind and with this series, I think it's really great, because you see the development of these characters and really just finding their footing and being authentically themselves. I mean, for Femi, especially, his character development is crazy, like we love a redemption, and I think him just finding himself, and it's helped him find his footing in a space where he wasn't really fully accepted. So I think that's a big thing that I would say literally, just be yourself and understand why you're there. Because you're there for a reason. 

K: I think a lot of people can take something away from this series, as each character has evolved and changed for better, and it's been lovely to see so congratulations to that. 

Boarders Series 2 is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer and BBC Three.