In a boys' grammar school in Sheffield in 1983, students Crowther, Posner, Dakin, Timms, Akthar, Lockwood, Scripps, and Rudge have recently obtained the school's highest ever A-level scores and are hoping to enter University of Oxford or University of Cambridge, taking a seventh-term entrance exam in History. The General Studies teacher, known by staff and boys alike by his nickname "Hector" (Richard Griffiths), is much beloved, and works alongside their deputy head and regular History teacher, Mrs. Lintott (Frances de la Tour). The Headmaster, known by all as "Felix", appoints a temporary contract teacher to help the boys in their quest, Tom Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore). He states that he was at Jesus College, Oxford when being interviewed by the Headmaster. Prior to the entrance examinations he says to Dakin that he was at Corpus (Corpus Christi College, Oxford). Dakin discovers on his interview day at Oxford that Irwin did not attend). Irwin is only a few years older than his students but proves to be a bold and demanding teacher, and particularly difficult to impress.