Hugh Jackman crime drama Bad Education premieres Saturday on HBO

Bad Education, the true crime drama starring Hugh Jackman as a corrupt school district administrator, airs this Saturday on HBO and streaming.

TV crime drama fans will want to get some Bad Education this weekend, as HBO unveils its true crime feature starring Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman and Oscar winner Allison Janney as two New York school administrators who perpetrated a multi-million-dollar scheme.

Frank Tassone was convicted of embezzling millions from the Roslyn, New York school district while he served as its superintendent. The district’s business manager, Pam Gluckin, served as Tassone’s right-hand woman and was also caught stealing district funds.

The story made national headlines thanks to a New York Magazine article by Robert Kolker, on which Bad Education is based.

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It’s a wild tale that includes not only financial crimes, but gambling jaunts with the Roslyn High principal, trips on the Concorde, and an allegation that Tassone had set up a secret other life with an exotic dancer in Las Vegas. This is the kind of story that feels made for TV.

And so it has been, with Jackman (who recently played another embattled public figure, Presidential candidate Gary Hart, in The Front Runner) as Tassone. Janney, whose performance as Tonya Harding’s mother in I, Tonya won her an Academy Award, co-stars as Gluckin.

Making it even more interesting is that writer Mike Makowsky is from the area, which lends the project more authenticity than the usual true crime tale. HBO describes it as a “comedic drama” that examines not only Tassone’s story, but the broken school system that enabled both him and Gluckin to almost get away with their crimes.

Audiences already know how multi-talented both Jackman and Janney are, and just the fact that they’re finally sharing the screen together should put this on every TV crime drama fan’s watchlist. But if that’s not enough, these roles will give both actors plenty to sink their teeth into.

Jackman’s boundless charisma should be perfect for someone who charmed and campaigned his way into the hearts—and wallets—of an entire upper-crust school district, while Janney has that natural authority that will make her believable as someone balancing the books while also cooking them at the same time. And both are always spot-on comedically, so when all the screws come loose, Bad Education will be a delight to behold.

If you don’t have HBO as part of your cable package, you can subscribe online and watch the film either directly through the HBO website or through streaming partners that offer the channel, like Hulu and Amazon Video. The movie will also be available on demand after its original airing.

Bad Education premieres Saturday, April 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.