Waterloo Road is really quite good

[Nurse Dunkley]

I have come to this conclusion after seeing all but one episode of this series so far. Highlights include Denise Welch being herself playing a nympho teacher who's ridiculously negligent, a girl with Asperger's syndrome throwing a chair at the Old Skool teacher, and the fit guy off the Coke Zero advert being likable and gay. He might have got HIV off the HIV Boy who just bled into his wound too, which is a shame.

Where has Angela Griffin gone? Will she be back soon? Any drama about Real Life People being a all soapey should have Griffin in it.

Oh the guy who played Todd's Karl in Corrie is now playing Coke Zero's boyfriend. It's too early to tell if he's still a bit rubbish.

[pauliepoos]

I watched the Waterloo recap and saw Gavin from Cutting It taking a drunk Denice Welch up against a brick wall but decided to watch Half Nelson on dvd, which features the impossibly hot Ryan Gosling as a teacher who shoots up in the girls toilets.

And it's nice to see the young ones making the most of their licence fee by watching this and Holby.

[Nurse Dunkley]

I have a dull essay to do, so I'd probably watch the test card girl. Although Waterloo Road blows Holby out of the water and I'll be watching full time.

Why does Ryan Gosling shoot up in the Girls toilets? Surely he has staff toilets to do that in? We had a teacher who would always take his lunch into the staff toilets.

[pauliepoos]

I don't know why he was in the girls' toilets. I got bored with Ryan as the film's a bit glum and I wasn't really paying attention.

And I've just been flicking and the hot nurse who Todd Grimshaw had hot gay nurse sex with is in Waterloo Road doing something. He looked very short when he was walking next to the other guy, whoever he is.

I've just read Gareth's first post where he mentions Todd's nurse boyfriend being with the teacher. They didn't look right together. It won't last.

[Muinimula]

I think it's a testament to how good this programme is, and how much I enjoy watching, that I am still watching this series, considering all my favourite characters/actors (the lovely-and-cute-when-angry Mr Treneman, Jill Halfpenny, Angela Griffin, and the slightly crazy teacher who killed herself) left at the end of the last series.

The only character is really don't like is the lad with very straight floppy hair. His smugness grates.

[Nurse Dunkley]

I quite like him, but mainly because he's extremely fit. Or was last series and in Skins, when his hair was a bit shorter. It's annoying how he's been nearly shirtless in the last two episodes.

muinimula said:

the slightly crazy teacher who killed herself

All I saw of the last series was the opener and the penultimate one. In the former she tried to kill herself in the canal and in the latter she succeeded with an overdose, so I didn't feel like I'd missed much in her particular story arc over the ten or so episodes. Perhaps she tried a different method each week.

Aspergers Girl singing Lord Of The Dance really flatly in the audition and getting shouted at by Denise Welch for wanting to finish isn't on YouTube. How rubbish. I love Aspergers Girl.

[Steven]

muinimula said:

The only character is really don't like is the lad with very straight floppy hair. His smugness grates.

The one who's clearly about 40? Every time he's on the screen I have the urge to shout "what are you still doing at school? Aren't you supposed to be putting your children through university?"

I can't really get on board with this show, to be honest. Although it is fun to watch it with my flatmate, who has spent a lot of her life working with children and considers the whole thing to be appallingly badly done, and thus sits there seething most of the way through it. And that was even before she got angry at their portrayal of Asperger's. Although she was pleased to see the Coke Zero Gay in it, since she did A Level theatre studies with him.

[timydamonkey]

Well, the portrayal of Asperger's isn't so much bad as it takes just about every symptom ever and shoves them with one person, which makes it feel ridiculously over the top. I know ridiculously over-the-top is a Waterloo Road staple, but still. Maybe that this is something I'm quite familiar with, so it annoys me. I don't think the actress is doing too bad of a job with the material though. Although it must have put me off a bit because I was playing video games rather than watching, these past two weeks.

What have I missed?

[Rad]

Waterloo Road is no Teachers (although to be fair, it's probably better than Teachers Series 4) or Grange Hil, but it's entertaining fluff.

How old are Mika and The Riddler meant to be, though? I would have thought they'd have left by now.

Steph Haydock is the best character by far, though the new young Coke Zero teacher is pretty cute...

[Nurse Dunkley]

Why does Coke Zero wear jeans? I didn't think teachers were allowed to. Mine only did on school trips.

[Deleted]

How clearly is running away girl going to end up being a hooker? It's a story as old as time, only she probably wont get knocked up and blame the angel gabriel.

[Nurse Dunkley]

This was a bit dull tonight, but at least they've lost a bit of the deadwood by getting rid of Mr Rimmer (Rimmer!).

I really like the cunty old teacher now that we've fond out he's got a disabled wife up in the bedroom to look after. I'm always a sucker for a carer story.

Was that Eve(/a) Pope in next week's trail as the new teacher?

[Deleted]

I haven't watched it since the girl became a potential hooker, is she one now? Or is she dead?

[Nurse Dunkley]

No! You've only missed tonight's, but she wasn't in it at all. They had a balloon release for her at the school and got in the papers. And then her husband who she cheated on stole the funny looking fella from the kitchens' moped so he could put posters up in town appealing for information about her. This meant that Mr Budgen didn't win two thousand pounds on the horses because the funny looking fella from the kitchens had agreed to put the bet on for him but couldn't get to the shop on time on foot SO the bailiffs came and took the Widescreen Telly from his disabled wife. That tugged at my heart strings.

Nothing happened with the two other interesting teachers (Coke Zero and Denise Welch) but plenty of boring stuff happened with the others and the head left. He'd done something to piss off the dinnerlady as well so she was throwing food around the kitchens. But he stopped her from squirting mayonnaise everywhere. The Aspergers girl didn't do anything either.

There'll be more of the runaway girl's slide into prostitution next week. The trailer showed her about to charge twenty quid for a kiss with an old guy. Not even tongues! That's well pricey.

[Rad]

I was a bit surprised at the head swap half waythrough, but not bad...

I'm not sure if they can sustain a fourth series, though, what with all the cast leaving all the time. I mean, Teachers tried a fourth series and look how that turned out...

[Nurse Dunkley]

I get the feeling they're trying to make it into a long running drama similar to Casualty or The Bill (except not shit). Although that's probably harder to do with a school.

[jetsetwilly]

Weren't they talking about making into Neighbours' replacement at one point? I can't imagine the big names hanging around if that happened. They may as well just stick Grange Hill in that slot. Actually, that sounds like a good idea...

[timydamonkey]

nursedunkley said:

I get the feeling they're trying to make it into a long running drama similar to Casualty or The Bill (except not shit). Although that's probably harder to do with a school.

The current kids will probably still be there and failing at 70.

[Nurse Dunkley]

Chlo may be on the slippery slope to prostitution, but at least she's got a very fit pimp to look at.

The new head lady is rather foxy too.

[Deleted]

I cxouldn't cope watching it after they were in the perverts house. Thank god I did though, she's saved! Although I did wonder why in gods name she spent all of 15 minutes on a bus when she wanted to run away, because that's really far, that is. And yes, pimp man was very fit.

[Nurse Dunkley]

I suppose she had to be close by because the production were too lazy/poor to go to another city. But yeah, I thought she'd at least run off to London. Anyway her sister totally upstaged her by getting drunk in the park and throwing up on the new headmistress, Mrs Way Better Than Jason Merrells or whatever she's called .

Denise Welch's character really is ace. She reminds me of all my favourite teachers (the glamorous drunks). I loved her saying that she was having the pudding to soak up last night's drink, before realising half way through that she shouldn't be saying it.

Now we just need to find something that all the other Loose Women are good at.

[Muinimula]

Eek! They rather overdid the hard-done-by stuff in the last episode. Now Neil Morrissey has had twins but one died; the new headmistress was never loved as a child; one girl had a baby who died and had to rake it all up for the sake of educating others; Mika was almost pregnant but not really; Aspergers girl isn't allowed to have friends any more; and musical teacher's musical is falling apart. It's all gotten a bit miserable.

[Rad]

Maybe they're setting us up for the next episode, where the whole school goes to the X-Factor auditions.

[Nurse Dunkley]

muinimula said:

Eek! They rather overdid the hard-done-by stuff in the last episode. Now Neil Morrissey has had twins but one died; the new headmistress was never loved as a child; one girl had a baby who died and had to rake it all up for the sake of educating others; Mika was almost pregnant but not really; Aspergers girl isn't allowed to have friends any more; and musical teacher's musical is falling apart. It's all gotten a bit miserable.

Balls, I missed last week's and it sounds rather ace. Why can't Asperger's Girl have friends anymore?

Out of all the above things I am most upset at Coke Zero's musical failure.

[Muinimula]

nursedunkley said:

Balls, I missed last week's and it sounds rather ace. Why can't Asperger's Girl have friends anymore?

Out of all the above things I am most upset at Coke Zero's musical failure.

Neil Morrissey finally realised that those two girls were pretending to be friends with Aspergers Girl, when they were actually laughing at her. As punishment, he said Alisha(?) wasn't allowed to be lead in the musical anymore. Looks like she's going to try and sabotage it next week, though.

The new head reminds me of my old headmistress. Very meddling.