Waterloo road (Waterloo Road)

Member Name: adam171275

Product:	Waterloo Road
Date:	21/05/09 (127 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy watching

Disadvantages: a bit predictable and unrealistic at times

Waterloo road is a BBC drama set in Rochdale Greater Manchester. It is centred on the lives of the pupils and teachers at Waterloo road comprehensive school. It has just currently finished its fourth series and is aired on Wednesday night at 8pm and is on for an hour. Here are my thoughts on the show.


If I'm honest I don't religiously watch it as of late it has coincided with a few football matches on the television, but when I can I will settle down with my wife and watch it.

Waterloo road has featured loads of issues and some done well, these include:

Drugs
Alcoholism
Teenage pregnancy
Gun crime
Suicide
Bullying
Murder

It has had some great characters all through the series, some are still in the show and some have left. Jack Rimmer played by Jason Merrells was the head teacher in series one and two and he played a great part. My wife was particularly sad when he left; she thought he was a bit of eye candy. My only criticism about Jack is I thought he was a bit unprofessional at times which I doubted its trueness to life. He was having a relationship with his secretary Davina and I'm really not sure if this would have been allowed? Or maybe it's very common? He did show a different side to a head teacher as many of us thinking back to their secondary head teacher he/she probably never looked anything like Jack. The idea is good looking people are great to watch and having Jack in series one and two I'm sure he would have pulled in thousands of women to watch it. I follow on to the next head teacher Rachel Mason played by Eva Pope. Again she is pleasant to the eye to watch and again I never had a head teacher like this, not even a teacher. I like the way that they did decide to use a woman after a male head as this shows that both men and women are successful in the world of education and can both do it well.


The have a great mixture of both pupils and teachers, the only problem I find with most BBC and ITV programmes is that actors seem to circle between them. Once they have played in a soap or drama and they move to another I find it really difficult not to associate them with their previous character. Both Rachel Mason and her sister in Waterloo road played in Coronation Street. Neil Morrissey was introduced in Waterloo road at the same time as Eva Pope as his deputy. At first I thought he wouldn't do a good job as I'm used to seeing him in a comedy role in Men behaving badly but I though he played the role really well. He showed that he is capable of playing a more serious character and isn't all about comedy. The only grip I have about his character is he does seem to be a bit of a do gooder I would of liked him to be a little more ruthless and maybe a little mean or stricter I feel this would of given his character a bit of edge.


The pupils in the show are a mixture of children of all different ages, races and backgrounds. This does show that many schools do have a different mixture of children and thought they have this part quite true to life. They even have a pupil who has aspergers which I feel educates people and gives us more of an insight to what it is and what it can be like for people who suffer from it. It educates us about children's backgrounds and the fact that not all children have a good home life. The most recent family to join the show is the Kelly's. They have in my opinion have put a spark into the series. The head of the clan is Rose who has 5 children and is a single mother; she struggles at first with alcohol abuse and has the children taken away form her. As you learn more about the family and it goes further into the series you see the family really turn themselves around. This does show that good can come from bad and is positive. I did feel that the actress who played Rose did look rather young though to have 5 children with four of them secondary age, or was it that they were showing us that she had children young?


The gripes I have about the programme are firstly they only have about ten teachers in a large secondary school. If you see an episode where they show scenes in the staff room of have a staff meeting there are only a handful of staff. They don't have to have that many teachers with main roles but a few more extras would make it look a little more authentic. This also applies when they have an assembly where are around 100 children are present? They either have a very small school or a real truancy problem.

Secondly, although they do have some great storylines I do at times feel they are a bit over the top. The last one I saw last night involved a governor, alcohol and a JCB, I really don't need to say any more. I just feel that would all that's happened in the show really happen in a real life school? I suppose that is why it's a drama.

Thirdly the storylines can be a little predictable at times. When my wife and I watch it at the start we say what we think will happen in the end and 9 times out of ten we are right. You can say its quote predictable or just plain easy watching the choice is yours.



All I all a great BBC drama to watch that will entertain you for an hour but I wouldn't be upset if I missed an episode.

Summary: worth a watch