WATERLOO ROAD______________BBC1________8.00pm___________

[RTKangaMummy]

THURSDAY 09 MARCH

Drama

Waterloo Road

8:00pm - 9:00pm

BBC1 London & South East

VIDEO Plus+: 7847
Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described

Episode written by Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus

1/8

This new drama series from the people who gave the world Footballers' Wives and Bad Girls is set in the eponymous run-down northern comprehensive school whose pupils leave not with GCSEs, but "an Asbo or a bun in the oven". And those are the headmaster's words. It's a hopelessly chaotic place, filled with surly pupils and staff who struggle to impose even minimal order. Considering its lurid stablemates, you'd be forgiven for expecting Waterloo Road to inhabit similar territory. In fact, it's peopled by comfortable stereotypes, drawn in broad brush strokes - middle-class characters are snooty and insensitive, working-class ones are either thugs or the salt of the earth. It's packed with familiar faces, mainly soap renegades including Jill Halfpenny (ex-EastEnders and Coronation Street) and Angela Griffin (ex-Corrie and Holby City).

RT reviewer: Alison Graham

Jack Rimmer - Jason Merrells

Izzie Redpath - Jill Halfpenny

Kim Campbell - Angela Griffin

Tom Clarkson - Jason Done

Andrew Treneman - Jamie Glover

Lorna Dickey - Camilla Power

Steph Haydock - Denise Welch

Grantly Budgen - Philip Martin Brown

Mika Grainger - Lauren Drummond

Chlo Grainger - Katie Griffiths

Jimmy Grainger - David Crellin

Donte Charles - Adam Thomas

Clarence Charles - Steve Money

Estelle Cooper - Judith Barker

Brian Vaisey - Jeff Merchant

Sgt Hendy - Seamus O'Neill

Stephen - Joel Cheetham

Mr Seymour - Robin Simpson

Mrs Seymour - Laura Richmond

Holly - Daisy Wignall

Stacey Walsh - Stephanie Laguna Walker

.

I loved the way one of the pupils had a baby in 5 minutes flat in the middle of the classroom. If only that was what childbirth was really like. Also like the fact that the head of pastoral care felt capable of acting as midwife. And that she got the other teacher to take his off his shoelace 'to tie off the umbilical cord'. Probably best not to try that one at home ladies!

The best thing of all though was the storyline about the head being blackmailed by a 15 year old pupil who accused him of sleeping with her and getting her pregnant (hence the rather spontaneous birth mentioned earlier) and didn't know whether she was telling the truth because he was so drunk when he met her he didn't know what happened after she took him home. He sensibly resigned when she threatened to tell the whole school he'd slept with her but when it turned out he didn't really sleep with her at all the other teachers thought he should stick at his job (which he's clearly so good at esp. with the aid of the whisky bottle in his office) and were sorry they'd doubted his professionalism. So the message is it's ok to get blind drunk and taken home by a 15 year old girl (who may or may not be one of your pupils) when you're over twice her age just as long as you don't actually sleep with her and get her pregnant when she takes you up to your bedroom. Finally, I like the fact that though the programme is set in Rochdale there isn't a single non-white face in the school!

I understand this is television and not real life but I didn't think it was supposed to be a comedy.