‘Audiences told us we didn’t show enough teacher sex’: how we made Waterloo Road

2026-03-23 - 15:20

‘In series one, it was bullying, drugs and alcohol. Twenty years on, it’s vapes, cyber-bullying and bloody energy drinks’ I was working on women’s prison drama Bad Girls when the idea for Waterloo Road came up. Bad Girls creators Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus had a fiery belief in social justice and did rigorous research. Those are often the foundations of successful serial drama. Ann had once taught in a Glasgow comprehensive and was passionate about education: she believed we write off young people too readily. That became the basis of Waterloo Road. Continue reading...