Children's TV series with school giving out laptops and strange symbiosis occurring

Question

These are the points I can remember:

• It was live action
• It would have been late 80's / (very) early 90's
• I'm fairly sure the show aired in the UK on the BBC (I don't remember ad breaks)
• A school was providing pupils with free laptops
• I believe the pupils were teenage - early teen rather than later though
• A strange symbiosis occurred with the laptop which meant the pupil upon extensive use could control it with their mind (and I believe became smarter)
• As part of the above, the laptop when connected could also in some way influence the pupil
• The whole idea of giving away the laptops was for some nefarious plan - however I can't recall what that was
• The program the laptops were running were based (I think stolen) on a Professor's work in AI/human interaction originally designed to enrich computer/human interaction
• The bad guys kidnap a man they believe to be said Professor, to stop him from accessing and shutting down the aforementioned program to stop nefarious plan
• What the bad guys don't realise - is that the actual Professor is the man's wife - and she manages to hack into and destroy the program before the plan comes to fruition

I have a feeling it had Danny John-Jules as a bad guy - however, looking at his IMDB profile I can't find anything that even looks remotely like a match. Although - it's possible I've mis-remembered that, so take this paragraph with a large pinch of salt.

Answer 1

I think this could be Dark Season.

• It was live action

Check.

• It would have been late 80's / (very) early 90's

1991

• I'm fairly sure the show aired in the UK on the BBC (I don't remember ad breaks)

It's a BBC show.

• A school was providing pupils with free laptops

Not quite laptops, but a mysterious donor is giving advanced computers to every pupil at the school.

• I believe the pupils were teenage - early teen rather than later though

3rd form and 5th form, so I think they were 13 and 15.

• A strange symbiosis occurred with the laptop which meant the pupil upon extensive use could control it with their mind (and I believe became smarter)

Two of the kids take a computer home and discover one of them can control it with his mind.

• As part of the above, the laptop when connected could also in some way influence the pupil

One girl has her mind possessed by looking at the main computer.

• The whole idea of giving away the laptops was for some nefarious plan - however I can't recall what that was

The entire show is about nefarious plans. I don't remember what it was either though.

• The program the laptops were running were based (I think stolen) on a Professor's work in AI/human interaction originally designed to enrich computer/human interaction
• The bad guys kidnap a man they believe to be said Professor, to stop him from accessing and shutting down the aforementioned program to stop nefarious plan

The kids identify the professor as the next door neighbour, but arrive at his house just in time to see him being bundled into a van by the villain.

• What the bad guys don't realise - is that the actual Professor is the man's wife - and she manages to hack into and destroy the program before the plan comes to fruition

The nefarious plan is foiled, although I can't remember if this was the reason. This happens only halfway through the series though - things get even weirder from here.