to persuade his friend Angus Deayton, who wanted to move into more acting roles away from Have I Got News for You, to play Slatt. The producer reflects that Deayton would have brought a more "sardonic" element to the character. The cast regularly teased David Bamber during rehearsals, speculating upon how Deayton might have performed a particular line or sequence.Janet Slatt (Geraldine Fitzgerald) is Eric's wife and the school's secretary. She has an antagonistic relationship with Eric, with each regularly the butt of the other's jokes. For instance, Eric suggests one morning that she had not shaved, and that she should rest her hind legs.Suzy Travis (Nicola Walker) is a new English teacher who arrives at the school in the first episode. The press described Suzy as "the voice of sanity at Galfast High and the thorn in Slatt's side."Amanda Trippley (Amanda Boxer) is the neurotic music teacher. Throughout the series, she invents her pupils to prevent her department being closed, uses the school's telephone network to surf the internet about Star Trek, and demands the return of a musical instrument from a former pupil now on death row.Dan McGill (Martin Ball) is a young teacher who instantly develops a crush on Suzy when she arrives at the school, and attempts to date her throughout the series. The character is given most prominence in "The Staff Meeting" episode, which was written in order to save money by not having any guest actors. In this episode it is revealed that Dan has agreed to teach several subjects in order to keep his job. Suzy is dismayed to find that he invented an entire language when he became a foreign languages teacher, and then invented its country (Estranzia) when made a Geography teacher. After Ball's performance in that episode, Moffat promised him that he would not underwrite him in the second series.Mr Humboldt (Andrew Livingston), a games teacher who is terrified that others might discover his sexuality. Slatt, who knows Humboldt's secret uses it to manipulate him, but Suzy (who assumes he is merely gay) encourages him to "come out". When he does so however, she is shocked to discover that he is actually a sadomasochist.Mr Carkdale (John Grillo), the head of English, very rarely utters anything but expletives. Struggling to find a rationale for his character, Grillo paced up and down a rehearsal room carrying a brown briefcase, which he remembers