Waterloo Road

Waterloo Road is a show I've been watching since the beginning in 2006. It was about a troubled school where students were beating the living crud out of each other and the teachers struggling to cope with the students, and their own personal matters.

Now In my opinion the Series 1-4 were the shows best years, it showed the school progress from a school in special measures with a beat up everyday, to a school that went out of its way for its pupils to have a better life at school, and in general.

Series 5 was decent, but then on-wards the show seemed to take a very different turn. At first it was a pretty dark drama that I would really only suggest to parents and teenagers but it went from that to a lighthearted family show, at least that what it feels like to me.

For example, in the first few series, there were more fights, more deaths, more arguments and most importantly, more drama, now conflicts get resolved in the space of an episode and the pacing just seems really off. The show went from 8 episodes in Series 1 to 12 in Series 2 to the standard 20 Series 3 on-wards, and these series felt very well paced with a overarching story line coming to a big climax at the end of the series, you just don't get that with Series 5 on-wards, in fact I had to look up when a series had finished because the finale's after Series 5 just felt like normal episodes.

The pacing and different direction also might be in part to all the different writers, as the original writers and creators of the show stopped writing halfway through Series 3 I believe. Its still good TV, and with the series ending next year after its 10th series, its a good time to go back and re-watch the earlier series and see how the show has changed,its just a shame to see something once to relate-able become so different.

I feel that we are not watching the same series. The characters are very interesting and the writing has developed so that there is some level of anticipation to see what will happen next. I think the gap maybe related to how one perceives life in the US vs. life in the UK where the series is set.

In the UK, if you are a teacher it is likely that your kids attend the same school you teach at - yes of course this is not very easy but it does happen regularly. In addition, many people meet at work many have a quick fling, and many get married. These inter-relationships have bee communicated well in the series.

Waterloo Rd is a good enticing drama, that is more about the relationships between people, (peers-to-peers and authority to the masses). Probably a little more appealing to woman than men. Well regardless must be doing wall as the second series has just aired in the UK and I for one can't wait to see whats going to happen.

The show started off a little slow, but it has improved a lot over the years. It is a gritty and compelling look at pupils and teachers at a comprehensive school and the situations they get into. The series is well filmed, with excellent photography and the school itself looks imposing. The writing is engaging and well written, and the stories are compelling and well structured. And the acting is surprisingly good, not the amateurish sort of acting I have seen but it is good. Denise Welch is excellent as Steph as is Angela Griffin and the students are all quite believable with good chemistry. The music is also good, it does stick in your head and is easy to remember.

Overall, a great show. I have seen a lot of good shows and dramas on BBC and this is luckily one of them. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I gave Waterloo Road a rating of 8 out of 10 because I thought and feel it is a brilliant drama. I prefer it to all of the soaps and drama's that I have watched in the past; the drama stars better actors, it has a brilliant story line compared to the usual soap/ drama which fail to keep up a storyline. The other drama based around a school is Channel 4's 'Teachers' which was some way 'Waterloo Road'. The other TV show that is similar to 'Waterloo Road' is Channel 4's soap 'Hollyoaks' which acting is extremely unbelievable, the storyline is of a bad quality and is aimed at a younger target audience.

Waterloo Road is now on it's 3rd series, I personally feel it is the best series so far, it has the most drama, chemistry between actors has grown and could lead on to many more series to come. Taking in account all of the features: Actors, Storyine, Director(s),Chemistry, Amount of Drama and how believable the drama; taking amount good points and bad points about 'Waterloo Road' I give this drama 8 out of 10

WATCH IT!!

I absolutely love this programme. As a 15 year girl in year 11, it really appeals to me. But to be honest, its 10 times worse than my school. But i think it is a great school for a city school.

Anyway, its basically about a run down school, were the pupils are really badly behaved, and the teachers cant control them. The head teacher appoints Andrew as the new deputy head teacher. Andrew is a Oxford graduate, and used to teaching private schools, not bad public schools. Andrew tries to bring authority, and eventually it works... and just loads of different things go on... like Dante and Chlo's car crash story line... and the love triangle between the 3 teachers (cant remember there names... Izzy, Lorna and the guy...) Ill be sad to see this end. I hope it comes back for a 2nd series!!