Back around 1973, when I was just a short-pants schoolboy, my mother had me watch Tom Brown Schooldays on the television. I think it was a PBS mini-series. She evidently thought it was some kind of heartwarming story about boys in school and I think the subject matter caught her by surprise. She evidently never read the book!
I saw that series too. Public schools are notoriously brutal - Prince Charles barely survived one. My husband and I binged watched “Rumpole of the Bailey” on vacation last month and we are amazed at how many shots Rumpole takes at the entire public school system.
Yes, it was on PBS and very well done; though I still like the black & white movie, that was made in 1940 and used to be shown on early T.V., quite a lot, when I was little.