Gerard Eyre
Originally from Sheffield, Eyre is a young teacher who is loved by the children he teaches.
Series 1
In series 1, despite being loved by the children he taught, older teacher Ingham was not a fan or Eyre or his his enlightened, modernising ways. A mentor to a young Bert Middleton, Eyre introduced him to photography.
Series 2
Eyre continues to teach and now considers his former mentee as a close friend. He is conflicted over his feelings for , who is married and legally unobtainable and loyal to the young man who sees him as a brother. He hopes a life changing adventure will help everything fall into place.
Matt Stokoe on Eyre
"I play Gerard Eyre, who is the younger of two local school teachers in the village. Eyre is a modernising man with modern and conscientious ideals that unfortunately come back to bite him when the war starts to break out [in series 1].
I think it would be nice to go back to a more simplistic timeMatt Stockoe
"I think it would be nice to go back to basics – a more simplistic time. I think we’ve become too condtioned in the 21st Century with commodities. Playing a teacher, I enjoyed thinking about creative ways I would have interacted with kids. In a way, it may have been easier to engage with children back then as there weren’t as many things to distract them as there are now."