Waterloo Road

Waterloo Road is a gritty real life school drama, which I have to say is more realistic than others on T.V lately. There are many great British actors in this show, such as Jill Halfpenny, Nick Sidi, Angela Griffin and Denise Welch. This gives the show the edge over other television school shows I believe. With dramatic and sometimes even scary story lines, I cannot think of many better programs to watch on a Thursday night, and i think that if more people would give it a chance, many more thousands of people would love it! Many of my friends love this show, but we all have to agree that the story lines can sometimes be a little rushed because the series are very short. But with this series set to be longer, and the DVD box set of series one coming out in March, I am set for watching back to back episodes!

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!!

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

Only thing that lets it down are a few events within the series which are unrealistic!

I was hooked from the first episode and hadn't missed a single one except from the second to last one of the first series! I was gutted! Waterloo Road had been compared to Channel 4's Teachers but I hadn't seen it - I had wanted to watch Waterloo Road because Jill Halfpenny was in it and I think she's a great actress after seeing her on EastEnders and Chicago in London.

Waterloo Road tackled many different story lines in the first series with the main one being the court case of Donte Charles. The story lines involved many different situations including bullying, homosexuality, father's rights, guilt and grief.

I found the story lines very gripping to watch especially the love triangle between Izzy Redpath and Tom and Lorna Clarkson - I was so glad when Tom and Izzy finally admit their love and they get together in the last episode! Despite this, I still feel a bit sympathetic for Lorna.

It was definitely an entertaining watch and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it before.