Denise Welch reveals why she returned to Waterloo Road as iconic "un-PC" character Steph Haydock
The new series starts in January.
Waterloo Road has served up a multitude of throwbacks to the BBC drama's first incarnation since it was revived in 2023, and now one of its most iconic characters is making a comeback.
The new series, which will drop in its entirety on 16th January, sees former modern foreign languages teacher Steph Haydock (Denise Welch) swan back into the classroom as a supply teacher.
Let's face it, after her totally unconventional style of teaching in the original run, nobody expected Steph to still be in the profession.
Even Welch was surprised, and only accepted the role on the condition that her alter-ego's charm wasn't disregarded in the reboot.
"It was quite random and quite bizarre [to get the call], because obviously it's not something that I was thinking of or waiting for," she explained to RadioTimes.com and other media during a recent press junket.
"So when executive producer Cameron Roach called me, I was more curious than anything else as to what Steph's role could be.
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"He mentioned the fact that the writers, which is very flattering, got very excited about the idea, because she was somewhat of an iconic character.
"I think she was very un-politically correct, in a world that we were allowed to be a little bit un-PC, and that is the bit that worried me."
Indeed, fans of the 2006-2015 version of Waterloo Road will remember that Steph often enjoyed a flirt with teachers and pupils, engaged in relationships with her colleagues and wasn't afraid to offend.
"I loved the idea of coming back, but I also realise that we are in 2025 and the days of Steph grabbing the headmaster and taking him into the women's toilets for a s**g are probably done," she continued.
"But we live in a very PC world, and if Steph is going to come back and be seen as some kind of non-smoking, non-drinking, settled down person, then it's not for me. I don't want to ruin people's memories of the character.
"Although Steph would obviously be 15 years older, I didn't necessarily want her to be 15 years wiser, and it was important to me that although you're not seeing her having a sex life - because that would turn the viewers off in droves - it was important to me that she was still a woman who was sexually active in her mid 60s."
The new series will see Steph come face-to-face with characters old and new, and it's guaranteed that she'll ruffle feathers, particularly with strict headmistress Dame Stella Drake (Lindsey Coulson).
"Steph's come back with a bang," Welch laughs.
"Her heart is in the right place, but she's completely inappropriate and says what she thinks, but somehow manages to often do the right thing, usually by default.
"So that's what lured me back."
Waterloo Road season 17 will arrive on BBC iPlayer at 6am on Tuesday 6th January, with the first two episodes airing that evening on BBC One at 9pm and 10:40pm. Previous seasons are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
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Authors
Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
