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Waterloo Road (TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Waterloo Road | |
|---|---|
 Cast of Waterloo Road Series 3 |
|
| Format | Drama |
| Created by | Ann McManus & Maureen Chadwick |
| Starring | See List of characters in Waterloo Road |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 3 (as of 7th December 2007) |
| No. of episodes | 29 (as of 7th December 2007) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Shed Media for the BBC |
| Running time | Approximately 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) |
| Original run | 9 March 2006 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Waterloo Road is a BBC television drama series set in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England,[1] and is about a failing comprehensive school. The programme focuses on its teachers and students, and confronts issues of affairs, abortion, divorce and suicide, but is ultimately optimistic, showing that a few good teachers can change a school for the better. The school and its cast and crew are entirely fictional.
It is produced by Shed Media, 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.[2]
An eight part series was made and aired in 2006. It was then re-commissioned for a second series[3], where the first seven episodes were airing on Sunday nights at 8pm in Scotland and Thursday nights at 8pm in the rest of the United Kingdom.[4]
Waterloo Road has been compared to numerous school dramas such as Teachers.
Series 2 finished airing 26 April 2007. Series 3 began on 11 October 2007 on BBC One except on BBC One Scotland where the series began four days earlier. A fourth series of 20 further episodes will air in 2008, it has been confirmed.[5]
Contents |
Details of writers and directors for each episode can be found at List of Waterloo Road episodes
Note: this section is now complete
The first episode of Waterloo Road was broadcast on 9 March 2006 and introduced a range of core characters including Jack Rimmer, Andrew Treneman and Kim Campbell, all three of which are central to the running of the school. Through the 8-part run of series 1, the school faced closure from the governors due to the lack of pupils and bad publicity it had been receiving prior to Jack's appointment as the new headteacher. but manged to keep the school open. Jack Rimmer is only given the job as headteacher when the previous head has a nervous breakdown, throwing his files and books out onto the playground.
The twelve-part second series aired on 18 January 2007 and featured 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.
On 4 January 2007, BBC One began advertising the second series as coming soon. It began airing on BBC One Scotland on 14 January 2007 and in the rest of the UK on 18 January 2007.[6]
The series featured the return of Lorna, following her attempted suicide at the end of series 1. This came as a shock to Tom and Izzie, who were expecting their first child together, until a fight between Izzie and Lorna caused Izzie to miscarry the baby. But in episode ten (of twelve, aired 8pm on 12 April 2007) Lorna realises Tom isn't the one for her, and that her MS and her career are making her life too stressful. She walks out of the school a part-way through one of her lessons and quits her job. However, she then re-unites Izzie and Tom having invited them both to a country cottage, before committing suicide rather than living on with MS. In the last episode of the second series, Izzie sees Jack being attacked and comes to try and help him, but then gets stabbed herself by the attacker. With only Jack there with her, and no one around, we are left hanging to whether Izzie survives the stabbing or not. [7]
A portion of the soundtrack featured in series two was provided by Cornish band, Thirteen Senses.
The current, 20-part third series began in October 2007 with several new characters including a new deputy head teacher played by Neil Morrissey.[8]
The Third series began with 5.1m Viewers, Peaking at 5.6m Viewers at 8:45pm and drawing with ITV's "The Bill" however when Waterloo Road Peaked at 5.6m, The Bill Had 5.7m.
The first episode began with headmaster Jack Rimmer (played by Jason Merrells) listening to a radio documentary which featured the death of his colleague Izzie Redpath (played by Jill Halfpenny). Jack had witnessed Izzy's stabbing at the very end of the last series, although until then it had not been revealed that she had died.
At current Waterloo Road has temporarily stopped airing after the first 10 episodes of the new series for the christmas break. Comes into effect in England on December 13 and in Scotland on December 16. The second batch of episodes should begin airing in Scotland on January 6 and in England on January 10. The third series finale is (at the moment) to air on March 9, 2008 in Scotland and March 13, 2008 in UK. (but it could be postponed until Easter due to the fact that there may be another series of Comic Relief does Fame academy airing- in which case there would be a 3 week gap between episodes airing just as there was during series two.)
According to Shed Media's latest Interim Report Results, a decision regarding the re-comission of a fourth series of Waterloo Road has been accepted. Waterloo Road has been re-comissioned for a further 20 episodes in 2008 which will bring the total number of episodes to 60. [9]
The Complete Series One of Waterloo Road was released in the UK on March 26, 2007. The Complete Series 2 is due to be released on 21 January 2008 [10]
| The Complete Series One | ||||
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Set Details | Special Features | ||
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| Release Dates | ||||
 United Kingdom |
 United States |
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| 26 March 2007 | ||||
| The Complete Series Two | ||||
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Set Details | Special Features | ||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom |
United States |
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| 21 January 2008 | ||||
- ^ "[...] the Rochdale branch of Aspinall Incorporated?" - Grantly, 2x03
- ^ Producer's Notes - Claire Phillips. Official Waterloo Road Website.
- ^ Waterloo Road re-commissioned (2006-04-03).
- ^ BBC - Waterloo Road - home.
- ^ Decision on a fourth series expected soon. Shed Media.
- ^ Radio Times - TV Listings Grid - Thursday 18th January. Radio Times.
- ^ Waterloo Road returns for a second term on BBC ONE in January 2007. BBC Press Office (2006-10-19).
- ^ A Third Series for Autumn 2007. Shed Productions.
- ^ http://www.londonstockexchange.com/LSECWS/IFSPages/MarketNewsPopup.aspx?id=1648887&source=RNS
- ^ Waterloo Road The Complete Series 2 DVD. Play.com (2007-11-07).
- Waterloo Road At Unreality Primetime TV
- Waterloo Road at TV.com
- Waterloo Road at the Internet Movie Database
- Official Shed Media Site
- BBC Site
- Shed Insider
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| Episodes | |||||||
| Characters |
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|---|---|
| Drama | Monarch of the Glen · River City · Waterloo Road |
| Comedy | Still Game · Dear Green Place · Legit · Scotch and Wry · Chewin' the Fat · Only an Excuse? · Offside · Naked Video · Rab C. Nesbitt |
| News & current affairs | Reporting Scotland · Newsnight Scotland · Frontline Scotland · The Politics Show Scotland · Politics Scotland · Holyrood Live · 24/7 |
| History | Restoration · Scotland on Film |
| Lifestyle | Artworks Scotland · Landward · The Beechgrove Garden · VideoGaiden |
| Quiz shows | National Lottery JetSet 2012 · Your Country Needs You |
| Gaelic | Cunntas · Dè a-nis? · Eòrpa · Rapal |
| Children's | Balamory · Hedz · Me Too! · Nina and the Neurons · Raven · Shoebox Zoo |
| Music | The Music Show · T in the Park · Hogmanay Live |
| Sport | Sportscene · That Was The Team That Was · The Adventure Show |
| See also: List of BBC Scotland programmes | |