A fresh-faced fourteen-year-old boy named Christian (Harry King) is escorted to the gates of his new High School by his Father (Tony O'Callaghan).
Within minutes of entering the schoolyard Christian is parted from his lunch money by the extortion tactics of school bully Pullen (Jude Monk-McGowan) and his gang of cronies. Strangely, Christian surrenders twice the amount of money Pullen demanded, which confuses him.
In class, Christian sits on the next table to a poor shy girl named Maria (Christina Jones) who the bullies like to ridicule at every opportunity. She's the only child sitting alone in the whole class.
When Pullen's gang assault Maria in front of the other kids at recess Christian is the only one to step forward and help her up. Back in class, Christian sits beside her too. Annoyed by this burgeoning friendship, Pullen orders Christian to move.
Christian stays put, and at lunch break Pullen attacks him for defying his orders.
Returning the favor, Maria helps Christian recover from the beating and she pleads with him to stop acting differently to everyone else or things will soon get worse for both of them. Christian shrugs and tells her he can't help it. This is just who he is.
In Phys-Ed class Christian refuses to throw the rugby ball to Pullen when he calls for it because Pullen is being marked. Christian has a free run at the line, though, and he scores a try. Pullen is annoyed that Christian stole the limelight from him. It's the last straw for Pullen so he hatches a plot to frame Christian.
During final recess Pullen sprays obscene graffiti on the wall of the Principal's office then secretly plants the spray can in Christian's bag.
The outraged Principal (Davyd Harries) calls an emergency assembly of the whole school to root out the culprit. No-one confesses so he gives everyone an hour's detention as punishment – on Saturday morning. The pupils are shocked and angry about this. At the last moment one of Pullen's gang (Daniel Brewerton) comes forward with Christian's bag and points the innocent boy out as the culprit.
Christian is interrogated by the Principal and commanded to explain himself. Christian chooses not to say anything so he is suspended and ordered to clean off the graffiti. As Christian leaves the school building at the end of the day, mop and bucket in hand, he finds a crowd of kids waiting for him. Angered by their corporate detention they cheer excitedly as Pullen's gang attack Christian, beat him up and crucify him on the playground fencing with bike chain-locks and school ties.
Christian is a Film programme that first aired in 2004 and has been classified a 12 certificate.
