In March I posted with what was known about the return of Malory Towers. Well, we know quite a bit more now!

When is it back?

Most importantly the whole of Malory Towers series two drops tomorrow(!) on the BBC iPlayer. It will then air on CBBC in early 2022. Unfortunately information on its release in other countries is scarce, other than for Canada where it will air on the Family Channel, and the US where it will be on BYUtv.  The only time frame I’ve seen is that these will air at a later date.

Series two will have thirteen episodes of 15 minutes each, as before.

The trailer

A trailer has been released in the last week, giving us a few clues as to what’s to come and you can watch that below.

Very, very interesting.

First up we know that Alicia will deploy her sneezing powder to trick the teachers.

And much more importantly we now know that the main plot running through the series will be Malory Towers being in financial difficulties. Of course the school won’t close, but it looks like Darrell and her friends will be channelling inspiration from the Famous Five or the Find-Outers and will go hunting for Lady Jane’s jewels to save the school.

We still haven’t seen any sign of Daphne (or Belinda) but we do see Mary-Lou hanging from the cliff (on a bright, calm day) with a parcel in her hand. It is Gwen who comes to her rescue, though, so I’m wondering how that’s all going to tie together. Has Gwen sent her on the walk to the post office? Or has it somehow to do with Lady Jane’s jewels? I suppose we will just have to watch and find out!

New cast information

In addition to the new girls Ellen Wilson and Bill, and teachers Miss Johnson and Mr Parker (more on them can be found in my previous post) I’ve seen that there will be sixth former Georgina Thomas and her rich father who takes an interest in the school.

Georgina Thomas (to be played by Edie Whitehead) is only mentioned in passing in the books. I’m sure Irene mistakenly takes Georgina’s case and is surprised to find ‘her’ case suddenly contains very fancy pyjamas.

Her father (to be played by Dominic Coleman) definitely isn’t in the books. I’m intrigued to see if his interest in the school is benevolent or not. Will he cause the financial crisis somehow as he wants to snap up the school and turn it into luxury seaside flats? Or will he swoop in to help save the day? Again, we will have to watch and see but I’m suspecting it will be closer to my first suggestion.

The episodes

As above, there will be thirteen episodes in series two. IMDb has names for ten of them:

• Episode 2.1
• Episode 2.2
• Episode 2.3
• Episode 2.4: The Auditions
• Episode 2.5: The Caricatures
• Episode 2.6: The Runaway
• Episode 2.7: The Play
• Episode 2.8: The Measles
• Episode 2.9: The Sneezing Trick
• Episode 2.10: The School Trip
• Episode 2.11: The Quiz
• Episode 2.12: The Heroine
• Episode 2.13: The Lost Treasure

These give us some more clues.

Episode 5 makes me think of Belinda drawing the two Mam’zelles at war with each other. The problem with that is that it doesn’t appear that Belinda or Mam’zelle Dupont are in the series. Still, I’m sure there are other girls who can draw and pit Mam’zelle Rougier against another member of staff, or two girls against each other. Perhaps Ellen can draw!

Episode 8 has to be Alicia catching the measles and briefly learning what it’s like to not find school work easy.

Episode 9 obviously revolves around Alicia’s sneezing powder from the trailer.

I imagine that Gwen is the heroine of episode 12, as she must rescue Mary-Lou from the cliff. It will be interesting to see if, like Daphne who is briefly the heroine in the book, she is the cause of Mary-Lou’s fall in the first place.

Apart from episode 13 none of the others have names to do with the treasure – or the closing of the school – but I imagine that will be a whole-series story arc that fits in around the shorter storylines indicated by the other episode titles.

So what do I think?

I think that I’m very excited! It seems so long ago that series one aired, and I suppose it was, as it was the spring of 2020. The last year and a half seems to have lasted at least five years, or so it seems sometimes, but actually to commission, film and release a new series which is filmed in two different continents and stars young people while a pandemic goes on is quite a feat. In ‘normal’ times we probably would have expected series two to be ready in spring this year, but I think they’ve done brilliantly all things considering.