蜜芽传媒

Popular school drama, Waterloo Road returns to screens on Tuesday 23 September. With the whole series launching on 蜜芽传媒 iPlayer at 6am, the new series will have a new weekly transmission pattern, with a double bill of Waterloo Road on 蜜芽传媒 One every Tuesday from 9pm with the second episode at 10.40pm.

Series 16 of Waterloo Road marks the arrival of Jon Richardson as the school鈥檚 new media studies teacher, Darius Donovan. With tons of charm, this new teacher knows how to put on a good show, and viewers can expect his arrival to stir things up at Waterloo Road.

• Watch Waterloo Road on 蜜芽传媒 iPlayer and add to your Watchlist

The series will also introduce students, newcomer Fintan Buckard (Phoenix Rise) and Savannah Kunyo (Coronation Street) as Ben and Hope Drake, with Christine Bottomley (Sherwood) appearing as Sam Drake. They're the grand-children and daughter of Dame Stella Drake (Lindsey Coulson), who made waves as the new headteacher of Waterloo Road in series 15.

Headteacher Stella is forced to navigate a fresh set of challenges, and this family dynamic will undoubtedly alter how she manages things, as well as relationships with students and fellow teachers. With another tragedy on the horizon, the choices of some of Waterloo Road鈥檚 own will have some life-changing consequences.

Christopher Jeffers (Riot Women) will also be joining Waterloo Road as Mitch Swift, the new SenCo lead (Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator), and Jason Merells will be reprising his role as Jack Rimmer, Waterloo Road鈥檚 first ever head, who is the new school counsellor.

Both will do whatever it takes to help the students of Waterloo Road who need the most support.

This series of Waterloo Road will also feature a full on-location episode, directed by Angela Griffin (Waterloo Road). The episode will see more familiar faces return as the Waterloo Road student-body heads to the local estate to participate in a community clean-up that doesn鈥檛 quite go to plan. Lloyd Eyre Morgan, Ruth Carney, Jesse Quinones, and Mike Lacey, also direct episodes in series 16.

Known to explore real-life topics affecting teens, families and school staff today, all with Waterloo Road鈥檚 trademark mix of sharp writing, warmth and wit, the new series will explore topics including the cost-of-living crisis, addiction, support systems, mental health, exam anxiety, allergies management and grief. The series has been recommissioned for two more series, which begin filming this month.

The returning parent and teacher cast include Adam Thomas (Donte Charles), Hollie-Jay Bowes (Debs Rafferty) James Baxter (Joe Casey), Jo Coffey (Wendy Whitwell), Kym Marsh (Nicky Walters), Neil Fitzmaurice (Neil Guthrie), Rachel Leskovac (Coral Walker), Ryan Clayton (Mike Rutherford) and Shauna Shim (Valerie Chambers).

The returning student cast include Aabay Noor Ali (Mollie "Mog" Richardson), Chiamaka (ChiChi) Ulebor (Shola Aku), Danny Murphy (Luca Smith), Hattie Dynevor (Libby Guthrie), Liam Scholes (Noel McManus), Maisey Robinson (Portia Weever), Miya Ocego (Lois Taylor-Brown), Sonya Nisa (Aleena Qureshi), Summer Violet Bird (Tonya Walters), Thapelo Ray (Dwayne Jackson), Tillie Amartey (Stacey "Stace" Neville), Zak Sutcliffe ("Schuey" Weever), Niamh Blackshaw (Agnes Eccleston) and Lucy Chambers (Cat Guthrie).

Waterloo Road is set and made in Greater Manchester and produced by Rope Ladder Fiction and Wall to Wall North. Lindsay Williams is the Series Producer. Waterloo Road is executive produced by Cameron Roach for Rope Ladder Fiction, Leanne Klein for Wall to Wall, and commissioned by Gaynor Holmes and Jo McClellan for the 蜜芽传媒.

charlie.mckoy@multitudemedia.co.uk / isabelle.martin@multitudemedia.co.uk

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