Waterloo Road

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2025
Season 16
8 episodes

Drama
Romance

Summary

Headteacher Stella is forced to navigate a fresh set of challenges when her grandchildren land at Waterloo Road, whilst new teacher Darius isn’t afraid to ruffle some feathers and Jack Rimmer makes his return to education.

Episode 1: Episode 1

Summary

The classroom drama returns for a new term. Headteacher Stella is forced to navigate a fresh set of challenges when her estranged grandchildren land at the school. New teacher Darius Donovan (played by Jon Richardson) is soon shaking things up in the staffroom, while Jack Rimmer finds himself tackling the troubles of a new generation as he returns as school counsellor. Schuey and Agnes cause uproar when they rebel against Stella's new rules

Review

David Brown

Earlier this year, comedian Jon Richardson April fooled much of the UK’s press by announcing that he was giving up comedy for a career in teaching, when what he’d really done was sign up to play a staff member on Waterloo Road.

Now, his character, Darius Donovan, makes his debut in a scene that feels as though a further joke is being made, this time about Richardson’s personal life. For when he’s asked why he left his previous post, Mr Donovan cites “a messy breakup”. Well, he does teach media studies — maybe this is an example of metatextuality?

Richardson’s arrival is the key selling point of this latest series, episodes of which are being shown either side of the 10pm news (a bit late for a school night, I’d have thought, but then again the target audience probably heads to iPlayer anyway). Though there is drama elsewhere, too, with headteacher Stella Drake earning the ire of Schuey when, as part of her new anti-religion ethos, she stops him from performing a Christian rap in assembly. As we see, Schuey may have recently found God, but he certainly hasn’t lost his rebellious spirit.

How to watch

Next showing

There are no live broadcasts scheduled for this show. But it is available via the streaming provider below.

Streaming

BBC iPlayer

Details

Released on

2025-09-23

Languages

Formats

Colour

Credits

Cast

rolenameStella DrakeLindsey CoulsonJack RimmerJason MerrellsJoe CaseyJames BaxterMike RutherfordRyan ClaytonWendy WhitwellJo CoffeyNeil GuthrieNeil FitzmauriceNisha ChandraSaira JacksonDarius DonovanJon RichardsonNicky WaltersKym MarshValerie ChambersShauna ShimDonte CharlesAdam ThomasCat GuthrieLucy ChambersStacey `Stace" NevilleTillie AmarteyAleena QureshiSonya NisaLois Taylor-BrownMiya OcegoBen DrakeFintan BuckardHope DrakeSavannah KunyoIzzy CharlesScarlett ThomasPortia WeeverMaisey RobinsonTonya WaltersSummer BirdShola AkuChiamaka UleborDwayne JacksonThapelo RayDeclan BrownTeddy WallworkSchumacher 'Schuey' WeeverZak SutcliffeTyler JamesBill BekeleAgnes EcclestonNiamh BlackshawMarc ToddTom WellsAshton StoneCory McClaneZayne JacksonInathi RozaniForest SumiAlfie Corbett

Crew

rolenameWriterChris GillProducerAdam LeatherlandSeries producerLindsay WilliamsDirectorLloyd Eyre-Morgan

All episodes

Episode 8

Episode 8

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Episode 7

Episode 7

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Episode 6

Episode 6

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Episode 5

Episode 5

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Episode 4

Episode 4

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Episode 3

Episode 3

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Episode 2

Episode 2

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Episode 1

Episode 1

Summary

The classroom drama returns for a new term. Headteacher Stella is forced to navigate a fresh set of challenges when her estranged grandchildren land at the school. New teacher Darius Donovan (played by Jon Richardson) is soon shaking things up in the staffroom, while Jack Rimmer finds himself tackling the troubles of a new generation as he returns as school counsellor. Schuey and Agnes cause uproar when they rebel against Stella's new rules

Review

David Brown

Earlier this year, comedian Jon Richardson April fooled much of the UK’s press by announcing that he was giving up comedy for a career in teaching, when what he’d really done was sign up to play a staff member on Waterloo Road.

Now, his character, Darius Donovan, makes his debut in a scene that feels as though a further joke is being made, this time about Richardson’s personal life. For when he’s asked why he left his previous post, Mr Donovan cites “a messy breakup”. Well, he does teach media studies — maybe this is an example of metatextuality?

Richardson’s arrival is the key selling point of this latest series, episodes of which are being shown either side of the 10pm news (a bit late for a school night, I’d have thought, but then again the target audience probably heads to iPlayer anyway). Though there is drama elsewhere, too, with headteacher Stella Drake earning the ire of Schuey when, as part of her new anti-religion ethos, she stops him from performing a Christian rap in assembly. As we see, Schuey may have recently found God, but he certainly hasn’t lost his rebellious spirit.

How to watch

Next showing

There are no live broadcasts scheduled for this show. But it is available via the streaming provider below.

Streaming
- BBC iPlayer
Details

Released on

2025-09-23

Languages

Formats

Colour

Credits

Cast

rolenameStella DrakeLindsey CoulsonJack RimmerJason MerrellsJoe CaseyJames BaxterMike RutherfordRyan ClaytonWendy WhitwellJo CoffeyNeil GuthrieNeil FitzmauriceNisha ChandraSaira JacksonDarius DonovanJon RichardsonNicky WaltersKym MarshValerie ChambersShauna ShimDonte CharlesAdam ThomasCat GuthrieLucy ChambersStacey `Stace" NevilleTillie AmarteyAleena QureshiSonya NisaLois Taylor-BrownMiya OcegoBen DrakeFintan BuckardHope DrakeSavannah KunyoIzzy CharlesScarlett ThomasPortia WeeverMaisey RobinsonTonya WaltersSummer BirdShola AkuChiamaka UleborDwayne JacksonThapelo RayDeclan BrownTeddy WallworkSchumacher 'Schuey' WeeverZak SutcliffeTyler JamesBill BekeleAgnes EcclestonNiamh BlackshawMarc ToddTom WellsAshton StoneCory McClaneZayne JacksonInathi RozaniForest SumiAlfie Corbett

Show more

Crew

rolenameWriterChris GillProducerAdam LeatherlandSeries producerLindsay WilliamsDirectorLloyd Eyre-Morgan