Episode #1.1

Before the whole school inexplicably ended up being transported to Scotland. Waterloo Road started off as a gritty look at a comprehensive school in Rochdale. It would soon put the long running Grange Hill into pasture.

The first episode starts with the old headmaster having a breakdown on the school roof. Waterloo Road is on a downward spiral with kids seemingly out of control.

Jack Rimmer (Jason Merrells) takes over as the new headmaster. He is fond of the hard stuff and thinks he has overreached himself. Andrew Treneman (Jamie Glover) is the newly hired deputy headmaster and English teacher. Oxbridge educated, he has been bought over from the private school sector and he wants to raise standard and instill discipline. His tactics do not go down well with Kim Campbell (Angela Griffin) after a parent is arrested for assault, resulting in a pupil being possibly put into care.

Apart from disruptive students, in the first episode a group of them go joyriding. There is a soap opera element to the show. Tom and Lorna are two teachers who get married in the opening episode. However Tom has a wobble and declares his feelings to another colleague.

Unlike Grange Hill which was aimed at schoolchildren. Waterloo Road was made for a family audience. The early episodes have a rawness and I can see why both parents and school kids enjoyed it. In fact recent shows such as Ackley Bridge have followed the same template.

I actually had a friend who used to live nearby the actual school this was filmed in. He took me round to see some filming going on.