Educating Rita Lashana Lynch as Frank and Rita. Educating Rita Educating Rita is a stage comedy by British playwright Willy Russell. It is a play for two actors set entirely in the office of an Open University lecturer. Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, "Educating Rita" premièred at The Warehouse, London, in June 1980 starring Julie Walters and Mark Kingston. The play was directed by Mike Ockrent. The plays follows the relationship between a 26-year-old Liverpudlian working class hairdresser and Frank, a middle-aged university lecturer, during the course of a year. In the play Frank has no surname, but when the film
Educating the East End 2011. Ten sixty-minute episodes were commissioned; the first eight were shown from September to October 2014 with the other two episodes acting as "specials". The original title for the series was "Educating Walthamstow" but shortly before transmission the title was changed to "Educating the East End". Before filming began Twofour advised Smith to get into contact with the headteachers of "Educating Essex" and "Educating Yorkshire". They both reportly gave advice on handling the attention and stayed in contact throughout the filming process. After the first episode was broadcast, "The Guardian" gave a favourable review, calling the show "funny, moving and