Waterloo Road (TV series)

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Waterloo Road
Adult cast of Waterloo Road
Genre	Drama
Running time	Approxiamately 60 minutes
Creator(s)	Ann McManus Maureen Chadwick
Starring	See "Cast" section
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original channel	BBC One
Original run	March 9, 2006–present
No. of episodes	20 (as of the second series)
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Waterloo Road is a BBC television drama series about a comprehensive school, and focuses on its teachers and students. The programme confronts issues of affairs, abortion, divorce and suicide, but is ultimately optimistic, showing a few good teachers can change a school for the better.

It is produced by Shed Productions, the production company responsible for Bad Girls and Footballer's Wives. Those shows were made for a more adult audience, so it is apparent that this is very different to its predecessors. However, the show's producer, Claire Phillips, has said that she feels when the surface is scratched, and the pace, boldness and energy is recognised, it has Shed Productions written straight through the middle.^[1]

An eight part series was made and aired in 2006. It was then announced that another twelve part series will be aired in 2007 due to the good viewing figures obtained in the first series.^[2]

1 Episodes
2 Cast
- 2.1 Main cast
- 2.2 Recurring roles
3 Crew
- 3.1 Writers
- 3.2 Directors
4 Criticism
5 DVD release
6 Series two
7 Footnotes
8 External links

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Waterloo Road episodes

[edit] Cast

[edit] Main cast

Jason Merrells - Jack Rimmer
Angela Griffin - Kim Campbell
Jamie Glover - Andrew Treneman
Jason Done - Tom Clarkson
Jill Halfpenny - Izzie Redpath
Camilla Power - Lorna Dickey
Denise Welch - Steph Haydock
Adam Thomas - Donte Charles
Katie Griffiths - Chlo Grainger

[edit] Recurring roles

Philip Martin Brown - Grantly Budgen
Lauren Drummond - Mika Grainger
Chelsee Healey - Janeece Bryant
Craig Fitzpatrick - Lewis Seddon

[edit] Crew

[edit] Writers

Series One:

Ann McManus and Maureen Chadwick - Episodes One to Four and Eight
Steve Griffiths - Episode Five
Harry Wootliff - Episode Six
Shaun Duggan - Episode Seven

Series Two: Currently unknown

[edit] Directors

Series One:

Barnaby Southcombe - Episodes One and Two
Julie Edwards - Episodes Three and Four
Ian Bevitt - Episodes Five and Six
Jim Loach - Episodes Seven and Eight

Series Two:

Barnaby Southcombe - Episodes One and Two
Jim Loach - Episodes Three and Four
Farren Blackburn - Episodes Five and Six
Mike Cocker - Episodes Seven and Eight
David Innes Edwards - Episodes Nine and Ten
Lance Kneeshaw - Episodes Eleven and Twelve

[edit] Criticism

The first series achieved fairly good viewing figures for its timeslot; around five million.

However, the programme was criticised by some headteachers, due to it damaging the reputation of schools. Some said it was working against Tony Blair's respect agenda.^[3]

Waterloo Road did achieve recognition, in winning the Best New Drama Series award at the TV Quick & TV Choice ceremony.^[4]

Recently, the show has also been nominated in the 2006 Stonewall Awards. The show's creator, Ann McManus, for Hero of the Year and Waterloo Road for Broadcast of the Year.^[5]

[edit] DVD release

According to Digital Spy, it appears that a DVD release of the first series of Waterloo Road will happen on February 26, 2007.^[6] Currently, there has been no details of the DVD cover, or special features.

[edit] Series two

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The twelve part second series will air in January 2007 and will feature a number of new main characters; Brett Aspinall played by Tom Payne, Roger Aspinall played by Nick Sidi and Davina Shackleton played by Christine Tremarco.

The series will also feature the return of Lorna, after she was going to commit suicide in the first series finale. This will come a shock to Tom and Izzie, who are expecting their first child together.^[7]