Willy Russell Willy Russell William Russell (born 23 August 1947) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are "Educating Rita", "Shirley Valentine", "Blood Brothers" and "Our Day Out". Russell was born in Whiston in Lancashire. On leaving school, aged 15, he became a ladies' hairdresser eventually running his own salon until the age of 20 when he decided to try to go back to college, eventually qualifying as a teacher. During these years Russell also worked as a semi-professional singer, writing and performing his own songs on the then flourishing and vibrant folk scene. At college, he began
Educating Cardiff preparation for the programme she took advice from Johnny Mitchell, head of Thornhill Community Academy in "Educating Yorkshire". The first six weeks of production saw the documentary makers observing the school and "picking up stories". Filming began in October and lasted until Christmas. Educating Cardiff Educating Cardiff is the fourth series of the British documentary television programme "Educating" broadcast on Channel 4. The eight-episode series was broadcast from 25 August 2015 to 13 October 2015. The documentary follows previous installments in the "Educating..." series including the BAFTA Award-winning "Educating Essex" (2011), "Educating Yorkshire" (2013) and "Educating the East End" (2014).