Waterloo Road 2022: when is the series coming back on BBC One, and who stars in cast with Katie Griffiths?

It was announced last year that Waterloo Road – the school-set drama which ran for 200 episodes from 2006 to 2015 – would be returning to BBC One.

Recently, we’ve also learned that several of the original cast will be returning as well. Angela Griffin, Adam Thomas and Katie Griffiths will all star in the new Waterloo Road revival.

Here’s everything you need to know about the new series of Waterloo Road.

Angela Griffin, who played Kim Campbell in the first five series of Waterloo Road, will be returning as the new headteacher of Waterloo Road.

Adam Thomas and Katie Griffiths will also be returning as Donte and Chlo Charles. Thomas and Griffiths both left at the end of the fourth series. It’s not yet been revealed in what capacity Thomas and Griffiths will appear in the revival, though they’ll presumably either be teachers or parents (if they’re series regulars at all, that is).

Currently there’s no word on whether any of the rest of the cast will appear, though you can more or less guarantee that at least one of them will show up at some point.

Famously, Waterloo Road was set in Rochdale for its first 7 seasons, before the school moved to Scotland (somehow with most of the staff and pupils coming along with them).

The new series will once again be set in Greater Manchester. How they’ll address the school moving to Scotland and then back again remains to be seen.

There’s a couple of reasons for that. Part of it is because of the BBC’s obligation to make drama that reflects (and is produced in) all areas of the UK – with two hospital dramas set and made in the South of the UK, new Director General Tim Davie emphasised a need to make more drama in the North of the UK.

As a result, Holby City has been cancelled – its last episode will air in March – and Waterloo Road has been brought back. The new series of Waterloo Road will be made in Manchester, which is where the show began (before moving to Scotland for the last couple of series).

The reason why Waterloo Road in particular has come back, rather than a different new or returning drama, is because it was hugely popular during lockdown. Waterloo Road was the sixth most streamed show on iPlayer during 2021, with 45.3 million views – putting it ahead of Doctor Who, Death in Paradise, The Serpent, and Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

We don’t quite know that yet – we do know, however, that filming has already begun, and that they’re making thirty episodes as part of the new series of Waterloo Road.

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