TV Preview: Waterloo Road

BBC One’s school drama Waterloo Road returns a sixth season and the new term brings some new faces to the school. A host of familiar faces are joining the drama as staff and pupils start a new term at Waterloo Road.

Waterloo Road: BBC One/BBC HD Channel at 8pm

BBC One’s school drama Waterloo Road returns a sixth season and the new term brings some new faces to the school. A host of familiar faces are joining the drama as staff and pupils start a new term at Waterloo Road. The last series of the drama had something of a clear out in terms of characters at the end of the series with several long-term characters departing and amongst them was head-teacher Rachel Mason (Eva Pope), Steph Haydock (Denise Welch) and Kim Campbell (Angela Griffin).

So its hardly surprising that the return of the series see’s a whole host of new characters introduced – all we’re sure with plenty of skeletons in the closet to come tumbling out during the course of the year. The most prominent new character is that of Karen Fisher – the new head-teacher who is played by Amanda Burton. The actress should need no introductions thanks to her high profile roles that stretch back to Peak Practices in the early 1990s through to Silent Witness and The Commander. Other new characters include Marcus Kirby (played by Wil Johnson of Waking the Dead), Charlie Fisher (Ian Puleston Davies – currently appearing in Coronation Street), Rebecca Ryan (Debbie in Shameless) and Bex Fisher (Tina O’Brien of Coronation Street fame).

So will the first day of term be a calm affair – will it heck as like! New head-teacher Karen Fisher is determined to bring changes to Waterloo Road and put its past behind it – moving on from the events of the past. But Karen may just find that moving on from the past – especially her own past – may be more difficult than she expects. Karen is quickly challenged in her new job with the arrival of two sixth form students; Ruth and Jonah. Both have previously been home-schooled but their mother has decided they need main-stream education although there father doesn’t agree. While Jonah enjoys mixing with other teenagers his own age Ruth struggles to cope and runs away.

In true soap form the woman that deputy head Chris Mead slept with the night before turns out to be someone much closer to home than he expected – too close to home for comfort and former pupil Janeece returns to work as the new secretary.

Waterloo Road continues tomorrow night on BBC One at 8pm.

Waterloo Road stars: Amanda Burton, William Ash, William Rush, Jason Done, Will Johnson, Phillip Martin Brown, Ian Puleston Davies, Elizabeth Berrington, Jack McMullen, Ralph Ineson, Chlelsee Healey, Karen David, Linzey Cocker, Kaye Wragg, Holly Kenny with Rebecca Ryan, Tina O’Brien, Anna Jobarteh and Lucien Laviscourt. Tonight’s episode is written by Lisa Holdsworth and Directed by Fraser McDonald.

The BBC HD Channel is available on Sky 145, Virgin Media 108, Freesat 108 and Freeview 50