Waterloo Road returns
#1

So as reported last year, Waterloo Road (Grange Hill on roids) has returned to BBC One, and is also on the iPlayer (before the scheduled broadcast time of 8pm Tuesdays).

I have to say I am not impressed with episode one, it strikes me that they're desperate to entice new viewers (use of texts overlaid on screen, children staging a coup and a violent disorder over a racist statue/school naming and paint bombs being thrown everywhere, along with a vagrant youth living in the boiler room).

The whole episode is in that weird cinema aspect ratio with bars top and bottom.
Reply
#2

(03-01-2023, 09:28 AM)Mike Wrote:  I have to say I am not impressed with episode one, it strikes me that they're desperate to entice new viewers (use of texts overlaid on screen, children staging a coup and a violent disorder over a racist statue/school naming and paint bombs being thrown everywhere, along with a vagrant youth living in the boiler room).

Never watched the original series but going by that description of the reboot, is this what TV Producers/Script Writers think goes on in a secondary school?
Reply
#3

(03-01-2023, 11:28 AM)JasonB Wrote:  
(03-01-2023, 09:28 AM)Mike Wrote:  I have to say I am not impressed with episode one, it strikes me that they're desperate to entice new viewers (use of texts overlaid on screen, children staging a coup and a violent disorder over a racist statue/school naming and paint bombs being thrown everywhere, along with a vagrant youth living in the boiler room).

Never watched the original series but going by that description of the reboot, is this what TV Producers/Script Writers think goes on in a secondary school?

The original series was also full of stupidity to be fair (moving a whole school to Scotland, stopping on the hard shoulder of a motorway and one of the students being killed by an HGV and a student breaking in to the school, dousing a room full of petrol and then being beaten up by the head teacher - then being employed by the school after he left a year later). Multiple major incidents (as in the JESIP definition) and never a question of poor management/security at the site being the cause and multiple teen-pregnancies, students running off and or having sexual relations with students and one case of two students running off to get married at 16... 


There is also a the overuse of steadicam, and the shakiness that goes with it along with the cinematic bars top and bottom of the screen, and a school with a budget to rebrand itself in the space of a week, during term time, inclusive of a wholesale change of blazer, jumper, tie, logo, ID card, signage, and paintwork... I can't even get a wholesale change of ID cards done in 2 years where I work, yet the Rochdale LEA can get a school to do all that almost instantly. 

I think their effort to be a serious drama rather than a soap opera as the old series was isn't the way forward, they also spend more time outside of and away from the school than in it, I've counted 4 students going AWOL in a school day, all walking out of the main entrance - surely the staff would've been trained or disciplined for this safeguarding failure.

**spoilers ahead**


I've tried to keep spoilers to a minimum in this thread but there seems to be a lot of stuff they get right (admittedly it's been 12 years since I was last at school) - but I don't see how students could organise a protest, start it, throw paint balloons at one another as if they had unlimited ammo and one of the paint balloons exploded on a car and caused an accident which killed off one of the characters from the original series - who was shunted over and hit her head, and died 5 hours later.
Reply
#4

Yeah, the Scotland move was dumb, definitely a jump the shark moment. They don't even do GCSEs in Scotland thus making any mention of those from that point on nonsense, they should've said the school was demolished and rebuilt (I know a couple of schools near me have done that), but still had the show set in Rochdale despite filming moving across the border.
[-] The following 1 user Likes JAS84's post:
  • Jon
Reply
#5

Looks like they're continuing the Rochdale reprisal...

twitter.com 
Reply
#6

I suppose the next batch of episodes will start/be on iPlayer from 2nd May as Interior Design Masters (currently in the Tuesday 8pm slot) finishes the week before.

I wonder if this is a continuation of Series 11 or if this batch of 7 episodes will constitute as Series 12.
Reply
#7

I wonder if they're releasing 7 episodes per term? So we had a block of episodes released during the Spring Term and now another block during the Summer term.

This should mean another 7 episodes sometime between September and December.
[-] The following 4 users Like London Lite's post:
  • agentsquash, CATV, DeMarkay, UTVLifer
Reply
#8

The next series has ‘dropped’ today, consisting of 8 episodes.

I understand that there is also two more blocks on the way, although I’m not sure if they have been filmed yet. If they have, then I’d get them both released in May so that they can calibrate themselves with the normal school calendar (if they get recommissioned).
Reply
#9

Filming for Series 14 started last autumn going by Kym Marsh's Instagram, so we'll likely see that in May

www.instagram.com 

Ideally, I'd then release S15 in September instead of sitting on it until next January like they did last year
Reply
#10

I'm guessing the idea of a second "soap" from the nations filling the remainder of the hours vacated by Holby City is now off the table completely.
[-] The following 1 user Likes Brekkie's post:
  • JosiahStuart
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)