I didn’t mind Karen Fisher that much or her family it was more the students I was less keen on. I found the second half of the 6th series stronger than the first half though, for me it was when Karen and her family left that the show really started to go downhill although S6 was kinda the weakest season up to that point.

 

I always kinda thought though that certain characters were replacements for others though that had left by that point again mostly students and certain stories tried to be repeated.

 

I think sometimes too I wasn’t keen from season to season we’d have teachers just not come back with no explanation. I kinda got it with the students as obviously they couldn’t still be in the show at the role once they’d graduated but we seemed to get a lot of like no proper goodbye type exits for a lot of characters. Sambuca’s final episode was like the last ever episode they did what was properly good though but I much preferred the early seasons of the show; even the show before we ever got Rachel was fantastic and better than anything from S6 onwards.

 

The show could’ve had a better had they done two things.

 

1. Reduced the amount of episodes per series when the quality started to dip (we could’ve easily been fine with a ten - 12 episode series not 30!) we could’ve had a lot less filler that way and more focus on key solid stories. It was crazy. I guess they kinda might’ve thought quantity would be better or they wanted to make as many as they could when they could. S1 and S2 though had just 8 and 12 episodes each and they were both solid all the way through with great climaxes which made the audience want more.

 

2. Not moved the show to Scotland

 

 

I didn’t mind Karen Fisher that much or her family it was more the students I was less keen on. I found the second half of the 6th series stronger than the first half though, for me it was when Karen and her family left that the show really started to go downhill although S6 was kinda the weakest season up to that point.

 

I always kinda thought though that certain characters were replacements for others though that had left by that point again mostly students and certain stories tried to be repeated.

 

I think sometimes too I wasn’t keen from season to season we’d have teachers just not come back with no explanation. I kinda got it with the students as obviously they couldn’t still be in the show at the role once they’d graduated but we seemed to get a lot of like no proper goodbye type exits for a lot of characters. Sambuca’s final episode was like the last ever episode they did what was properly good though but I much preferred the early seasons of the show; even the show before we ever got Rachel was fantastic and better than anything from S6 onwards.

 

The show could’ve had a better had they done two things.

 

1. Reduced the amount of episodes per series when the quality started to dip (we could’ve easily been fine with a ten - 12 episode series not 30!) we could’ve had a lot less filler that way and more focus on key solid stories. It was crazy. I guess they kinda might’ve thought quantity would be better or they wanted to make as many as they could when they could. S1 and S2 though had just 8 and 12 episodes each and they were both solid all the way through with great climaxes which made the audience want more.

 

2. Not moved the show to Scotland

I thought that having a family around the headteacher was a refreshing idea after Jack and Rachel were introduced as stand-alone characters. I'm the opposite to you - I found the second half much weaker than the first. I thought the Jonah/Francesca storyline really irresponsible, aiming it like this tragic love story and everyone else was evil for not letting them be together, but even away from that I wasn't engaging with the material much.

 

Totally agree that they just repeated character types and storylines. I too hated how some characters would just disappear with no explanation. You'd watch a new block of episodes and be left thinking "oh, so I'm assuming they've left then?".

 

Reducing episodes would have helped - it would mean we would get so many episodes revolving around these one-off characters dealing with "issue of the week". The move to Scotland was definitely the final nail in the coffin. Some of the episodes were decent, but it definitely wasn't Waterloo Road anymore.

Now you’ve mentioned Jonah and Cesca at the time I was kinda really rooting for them this is me speaking as a teenager when it originally aired I was like 15 and I was thinking NOOOOO. On my second rewatch I thought very different although Chris was a hypocrite regarding that situation :lol:

 

The Kirbys were quite an interesting family actually it’s a shame they were only it for one season

Liam, I agree 100% about the Jonah/Francesca storyline. If that had been a male teacher and female student, I doubt they’d have portrayed it that way. Very irresponsible. That series aired the year I trained to become a teacher and that storyline was very poorly thought out.

 

I agree it was really annoying when characters would disappear without explanation. That started even earlier than series 5. But from what I recall, huge characters like Kim and Steph (I know she popped back) just vanished which was incredibly weird.

 

And everyone called the move to Scotland ridiculous well before it happened. How do you just move an entire school to another country? I watched the first batch from Scotland but could make it through the second.

I was going to mention the Jonah and Cesca story, I’m watching it just now and can’t believe how they’re portraying it although it doesn’t help that Jonah looks about 35

 

I’m dreading the move to Scotland to be honest!

 

 

I just rewatched the episode where Lindsay James attacks Karla - honesty broke my heart!

Edited June 26, 20205 yr by Billy.

Liam, I agree 100% about the Jonah/Francesca storyline. If that had been a male teacher and female student, I doubt they’d have portrayed it that way. Very irresponsible. That series aired the year I trained to become a teacher and that storyline was very poorly thought out.

 

I agree it was really annoying when characters would disappear without explanation. That started even earlier than series 5. But from what I recall, huge characters like Kim and Steph (I know she popped back) just vanished which was incredibly weird.

 

And everyone called the move to Scotland ridiculous well before it happened. How do you just move an entire school to another country? I watched the first batch from Scotland but could make it through the second.

What Jordan says above proves just how irresponsible the storyline was. Teenagers will have made up a large portion of the viewing figures so it's very easy to be caught up in the tragic love story angle and think that this is okay. The fact that Chris allowed them time to get married before calling the police really annoys me, it makes a mockery of the laws that are in place and says "it's okay for this to happen because they love each other". Francesca falling pregnant by Jonah adds insult to injury. The storyline was built on twists and sensationalism, no regard to any truth or responsibility. I also definitely agree that this would not have happened if the genders were reversed.

 

I don't think I bought into it at the time but that was most likely due to me not liking either character so I just didn't care about the storyline.

 

Kim and Steph didn't have an exit as such but I think you could piece together why they left. It's when you have characters like Adanna who was introduced in the second block of Series 6 and then disappeared with no clear explanation. Same goes for some of the pupils, like Josh's love interest Nate - they build up this relationship between the two and then he's just gone in Series 7.

I would argue that initially the first batch of Scotland episodes actually had improved continuity (fewer pupils of the week) and storylines but I dropped out when that Barry family turned up.

I think my viewing of the Cesca story too was kinda wrongly skewed by the fact she was a very good looking woman and one of the younger teaching staff too.

 

It’s different as years later when Emmerdale done the Jacob storyline which was kinda similar in ways as Maya was a teacher I could see from the off just how bad it was. It was probably the most remembered story from that season though I’d say I can remember us all going crazy about it in school the next day!

But to be fair, they clearly wanted us rooting for the characters so it’s no surprise that you were. Had I not been starting a career in education myself at the time, I might also have rooted for them. It’s like Liam says, very dangerous.

Yeah I think the fact they were both very good looking plays into the idea of us routing for them. Not to say they shouldn't be but it felt like they were making a point of Francesca being the teacher everyone fancied and there were lots of gratuitous scenes of Jonah topless (bearing in mind the character's supposed to be 17); it all just came across like the show was fetishising the story and make us think how good they looked together.

Can I just say how much I dislike Chris Mead, he’s so hypocritical!

Chris Mead was absolutely awful. He definitely lacked the presence a deputy headteacher should have and was constantly making dodgy calls.

The management team for season 6 was horrible - I’m watching Season 7 atm and my heart is breaking for Sam,

Hoping for a miracle!

The move to Scotland was the biggest jump the shark moment I’ve ever seen in a show. I think I’d been fading in and out of watching by that time anyway, but after that random cliffhanger, I never watched it again. I only saw bits from when my family had it on and even then I think it was only the following series.

Yeah I've been thinking how utterly pathetic Chris Mead was - how on earth he was a deputy! :drama: He was always quite wimp in Series 5 so I can't deny he was always true to character, but some of the stupid situations he got into in Series 6 and 7...

 

I absolutely hated the cliffhanger of Series 7. How unnecessary? The move to a new school, in theory, should have been enough of a hook to tune into the next series, but clearly the show had such little faith that they had to have that sensational cliffhanger. I won't spoil what happened but was it really worth it?

I’ve just watched the Blackpool episode and I think it’s one of the best hours of TV I’ve watched. Up until now I’ve not been keen on Lauren but the actress who played her was really sensational!

The continuity in Series 7 Episode 1 is really bugging me. In Kyle Stack's first episode, Series 6 Episode 11, he joins the school halfway through the school year and is aged 15. Then in Series 7 Episode 1, he is 17. He also believes he's the dad to that girl's baby and we're meant to believe they were in a relationship together - not only did we never have any indication that he was with anyone before this point, but he apparently would have slept with her before he even moved to the area!

 

The continuity in Series 7 Episode 1 is really bugging me. In Kyle Stack's first episode, Series 6 Episode 11, he joins the school halfway through the school year and is aged 15. Then in Series 7 Episode 1, he is 17. He also believes he's the dad to that girl's baby and we're meant to believe they were in a relationship together - not only did we never have any indication that he was with anyone before this point, but he apparently would have slept with her before he even moved to the area!

 

 

!!!

 

I don’t remember any of that! Kyle Stack, was he the one George Sampson played? Awful character.

I’m half way through season 7, just after the new headmaster etc and think I may just go back and watch 1-5 instead. I think Scout seems like just a bad replacement for Sam.

Scout was horrific. They had the big storyline where she gets away from her mum and then she immediately moves back in with her.