If you’ve been watching Waterloo Road as long as I have, you’ll have come to expect a bit of mayhem on the first day of a new term. And so it proves as a new series – its 14th – begins, and new acting headteacher Joe Casey (James Baxter) is faced with a student being pushed down the road in a trolley full of stolen supermarket goods, and an enormous food fight in front of the new premises. “The pupils, they’re going to be on their best behaviour at first,” he had been promised.
Surely no parent would choose to send their child to a school with the turnover or upheaval of Waterloo Road. The series started in 2006 when it was based in Rochdale, where it stayed for seven series before moving, bizarrely, to Scotland in 2012, for three more. Still, it’s always been familiar, human, and with relatable storylines that have made it incredibly watchable, plausibility regardless. That’s what made it a surprise lockdown binge-hit, and what led to its revival last year, which took us back to Greater Manchester. And now, somehow, to yet another school campus.
All these shake-ups must be a bid to try and make things feel “fresh”. But there’s only so much that can be done and by now it feels like it might be running out of, well, road. Its teacher-student drama feels dull and repetitive, even with this series’s big coup, comedian – and Waterloo Road mega-fan – Jason Manford joining the cast as headteacher Steve Savage (that Mr Casey very quickly messes up his first day and steps down). Manford is of course funny but here his role is serious in a way that doesn’t suit him, and his likeable personality is shut down by his character. He doesn’t quite manage to bring new life to the programme in the way I (and surely producers) had hoped.
Last series saw old favourite Kim Campbell (Angela Griffin) get engaged, step down as headteacher, and find student Weever in the boot of his abusive father’s car. This episode picks his storyline straight back up when he’s seen making £40 from stolen eggs and doughnuts in an attempt to house him and his sister Portia, who were split up when they moved into care, in their uncle’s caravan.
Meanwhile history teacher Neil Gunthrie (Neil Fitzmaurice) is suspended after physically restricting known troublemaker Dean Weaver (Francesco Piacentini-Smith) when a fight kicks off in the canteen after it emerges he was trolling his daughter Libby (Hattie Dynevor) online (are you keeping up?). The storylines are dramatic, and a bit too far-fetched for one school day, but in typical Waterloo Road fashion the episode tackles timely issues.
As well as Libby’s upset at the cyberbullying, which is sure to resonate with teens, and Weever’s hatred of being in care, teacher Amy Spratt is also struggling to afford her bills after paying off a student loan, and finds herself needing to sell her car and take up an evening job. The young actors impressively explore these hard-hitting topics but, still, fresh ideas are in short supply, and the show seems more of a public service than a riveting watch.
Waterloo Road is one of few places on TV that feels a duty to explore issues concerning young people – such as social media misuse and the cost of living – that are so often overlooked. Yet it’s hard to know who this drama is made for – it feels too “safe” to appeal to those teenagers themselves, in comparison to series like Sex Education or Heartstopper, and too juvenile to hold the attention of adults. As a 22-year-old viewer I sit right in the middle – and feel totally out of the loop.
Waterloo Road is available on BBC iPlayer
