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Waterloo Road

Returns Wednesday on BBC One (January 2009)

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GR
gregmc
The long awaited return of Waterloo Road is here:


Quote:
Waterloo Road, made by Shed Productions through BBC Drama Scotland, returns to BBC One for a new series on Wednesday 7 January 2009.

Set in a fictional school in Rochdale, the drama features good and bad teachers and pupils, although at its heart is a message that a few good teachers in one school can succeed in achieving the near impossible.

Waterloo Road is a long running drama with mass appeal to a wide-ranging audience. Originally commissioned in 2005 for eight episodes, the series has grown over the years and is now enjoying a fourth series.

In total, 60 hours have been produced – a testament to its popularity with viewers, which peaked at six million in March 2008.

Waterloo Road has featured actors such as Angela Griffin, Jason Merrells, Jill Halfpenny, Eva Pope and Neil Morrissey.

Series four sees the return of Head Teacher, Rachel Mason (Eva Pope), who nearly died at the end of series three, after being trapped in the school as a fireball ripped through it.

Deputy Head, Eddie Lawson (Neil Morrissey) is back, and from episode 11 we see the welcome return of Kim Campbell (Angela Griffin).

Rachel is more determined than ever to get the school back on track and introduces challenging new initiatives, a zero-exclusion policy, breakfast and after-school clubs, and adult evening classes.

However, her plans are dealt a severe blow with the arrival of the Kelly "family from Hell".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/12_december/30/waterloo.shtml

I wonder what the outcome of the blast will be! An interesting insight to the new series on the press office site nevertheless.
BR
Brekkie
Call me cynical but it looks like the BBC are moving it to the slot they use to kill off established drama series - they did it with Born and Bred a couple of years ago and a few years before that I think Ballykissangel was killed off in the midweek slot.
CY
cylon6
Brekkie posted:
Call me cynical but it looks like the BBC are moving it to the slot they use to kill off established drama series - they did it with Born and Bred a couple of years ago and a few years before that I think Ballykissangel was killed off in the midweek slot.


I think it's more a case of BBC1 wanting to have more of a presence on Wednesday nights. That night has been a real problem for them.
AN
Andrew Founding member
Brekkie posted:
Call me cynical but it looks like the BBC are moving it to the slot they use to kill off established drama series - they did it with Born and Bred a couple of years ago and a few years before that I think Ballykissangel was killed off in the midweek slot.


I very much doubt it, I can see Waterloo Road going all year round eventually.

The "the Kelly - family from Hell" sounds very predictable. I expect it'll be the usual thugish children and don't care less parents that we've seen on many TV programmes time and time again.
CY
cylon6
If they make Waterloo Road all year round it'll kill it, look what happened to Casualty. I think a series of 20 episodes is just right. However they should have repeated the final episode of the last series before starting the new series.
DE
denton
Brekkie posted:
Call me cynical but it looks like the BBC are moving it to the slot they use to kill off established drama series - they did it with Born and Bred a couple of years ago and a few years before that I think Ballykissangel was killed off in the midweek slot.


Well, you would have thought they were doing their best to kill it off last year, with the on one week, off the next two, back for one week kind of scheduling it had. The fact it managed to peak at 6 million viewers is amazing.
CY
cylon6
denton posted:
Brekkie posted:
Call me cynical but it looks like the BBC are moving it to the slot they use to kill off established drama series - they did it with Born and Bred a couple of years ago and a few years before that I think Ballykissangel was killed off in the midweek slot.


Well, you would have thought they were doing their best to kill it off last year, with the on one week, off the next two, back for one week kind of scheduling it had. The fact it managed to peak at 6 million viewers is amazing.


What did it make way for in those instances? I've forgotten.
JO
Johnny83
cylon6 posted:
If they make Waterloo Road all year round it'll kill it, look what happened to Casualty. I think a series of 20 episodes is just right. However they should have repeated the final episode of the last series before starting the new series.


Funny thing is though that Casualty & Holby are still ongoing so it may not necessarily kill it off, well at first at least
CY
cylon6
Johnny83 posted:

Funny thing is though that Casualty & Holby are still ongoing so it may not necessarily kill it off, well at first at least


Familiarity breeds contempt. They are on too often so they no longer feel special. I preferred it when it was on for twenty odd weeks and then stopped. When a new series started it felt like an event, it always had a big stunt filled episode to open the series. Nowadays it's on so often that ratings hover around 6 million. People don't care about it like they used to.
AN
Andrew Founding member
cylon6 posted:
denton posted:
Brekkie posted:
Call me cynical but it looks like the BBC are moving it to the slot they use to kill off established drama series - they did it with Born and Bred a couple of years ago and a few years before that I think Ballykissangel was killed off in the midweek slot.


Well, you would have thought they were doing their best to kill it off last year, with the on one week, off the next two, back for one week kind of scheduling it had. The fact it managed to peak at 6 million viewers is amazing.


What did it make way for in those instances? I've forgotten.


All I can remember is that it started around October and had quite a long break mid series for Christmas, I can't recall any other dodgy scheduling, at least not in England.
JO
Johnny83
cylon6 posted:
Johnny83 posted:

Funny thing is though that Casualty & Holby are still ongoing so it may not necessarily kill it off, well at first at least


Familiarity breeds contempt. They are on too often so they no longer feel special. I preferred it when it was on for twenty odd weeks and then stopped. When a new series started it felt like an event, it always had a big stunt filled episode to open the series. Nowadays it's on so often that ratings hover around 6 million. People don't care about it like they used to.


Absolutely true, I don't watch either but I know that about 5-8 years ago when they were on for so many months & then off for so many months that my Mum used to get annoyed if she missed an episode if she got home late from my Aunts or the West End. Now she just catches either when she gets the chance otherwise she's not that bothered these days Laughing
IS
Isonstine Founding member
Glad it's coming back. Isn't there rumours to rotate Waterloo Road and Holby City so that both are on all year round but fortnightly instead of weekly? I think that'd be a fairly good compromise so you don't get too bored of it being on week after week.

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