Waterloo Road: Spring Term Overview
Posted by Beep the Meep on Tue, 12 Apr 2011.
The second half of Series 6 of Waterloo Road has finished, with a dramatic stunt from Finn and a not-quite-so-dramatic wedding between Spanish teacher, Francesca and pupil Jonah Kirby. This series has seen the usual blend of comedy and drama, alongside some interesting character developments. The head teacher is still Mrs Karen Fisher (Amanda Burton) with her annoying deputy Chris Mead (William Ash).
The stories of this term have included, the introduction of Kyle Stack (George Sampson) the local “bad man” of Rochdale, Finn Sharky and Sambuca Kelly getting together despite Finn being all over her best friend Amy last series, the developing relationship between Nate and Josh, the arrival of new head of pastoral care Adanna Lawal, the teacher and pupil relationship story (again!), the return of the Denzil & Emily story, Bex Fisher, the daughter of the Headmistress, being stalked by the mysterious Hodge, Vicki & Ronan getting together and Food Tech teacher, Ruby Fry, becoming a bestselling author in a mere three weeks.
Each episode is what bad events could happen to a school over a period of years, not weeks! It has shocked me that they haven’t shut the place down, though it has come on better than the failing school seen in Series One. This term has seen a change of focus, last term, the bulk of the action and storylines were based on the new Head and her unfaithful husband. This term, like most of the Spring Term’s, have been more focus on the “day to day” life at school. Well, I say day to day…how many schools do you know that feature West End style pyrotechnics for their school plays or have weekly punch ups between teachers and pupils? The show has moved away from its gritty, realistic origins to being a little bit more…well, fictional.
That’s not to say Waterloo Road is a bad show, it isn’t. It always has me hinting and wondering what will happen next, when will who and who get discovered, when is it going to go wrong, when are the producers going to kill off Chris Mead? It’s just at times the show can be predictable and you feel you could write the script yourself. But it does portray most aspects of school life well especially the batter among the staff. I love the moments of comedy between Ruby and Grantly. If Philip Martin-Brown isn’t on Have I Got News For You by next year it will be a waste of the license fee. The snarky comments that come from that staff room feel absolutely real.
Oh and Janice (Chelsee Healey)! She started off in Series One as this bratty chav who hogged the screen to a caring young mother. She really shows her caring side in the second episode of this term, stopping a mother taking her daughters baby. Janice treats everyone as an equal, yet she can control a class of boys with her bare finger and sharp tongue.
Waterloo Road may not be the most realistic of drama, but its charm and wit hold it together.
Waterloo Road returns for its 7th series later this year