The Scottish Mail on Sunday

Why is there such a buzz about..?

- Neil Armstrong

The Chair (Netflix)

In just six half-hour episodes, this clever campus comedy tackles a range of issues currently afflicting universiti­es – ‘cancel culture’, obnoxiousl­y selfrighte­ous students, lack of diversity among academic staff – and does so with such a lightness of touch that we don’t feel as if we’re being lectured to.

Sandra Oh (left) plays Dr Ji-Yoon Kim, the first woman chair of the English department at Pembroke University, an American liberalart­s college whose best days are behind it. The most popular lecturer, Dr Yaz McKay (Nana Mensah), is a younger black woman who teaches Moby-Dick in a way that the students enjoy, while the department’s Chaucer expert, Professor Joan Hambling (Holland Taylor), has poorly attended lectures. ‘This is one of the few profession­s where you get more respect as you get older,’ Joan says, but, sadly, she’s wrong.

Then, when a colleague does a Nazi salute in a lecture on fascism, he is accused by insufferab­le undergradu­ates of being a fascist himself. This is witty, entertaini­ng, leaves you wanting more and can be enjoyed by snowflake students and past-it professors alike.

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