Country of origin United Kingdom Original network BBC One | No. of episodes 20 | |
Original release 7 January (2009-01-07) – 20 May 2009 (2009-05-20) | ||
The fourth series of Waterloo Road, a British television school drama series created by Ann McManus and Maureen Chadwick and produced by BBC Scotland and Shed Productions, commenced airing in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2009 and concluded after 20 episodes on 20 May 2009.
Contents
Waterloo Road's fourth series aired in the United Kingdom on Wednesdays at 8:00 pm GMT on BBC One, a terrestrial television network, where it received an average of 4.76 million viewers per episode.
Plot
The show follows the lives of the teachers and the pupils at the eponymous school of Waterloo Road, a failing inner-city comprehensive, tackling a wide range of issues often seen as taboo such as steroids, giving birth, shooting, poverty, alcoholism and smuggling.
Premise
The fourth series picks up after the events of the third series finale, which involved a fire almost destroying the school and left the fate of several staff and pupils unknown.
The Kelly family are introduced as prominent characters this series, often referred to as the "family from hell". The family consists of alcoholic mother, Rose Kelly, and her five children, who all enrol at Waterloo Road and bring many problems with them. Later in the series, a major plot sees pupil Maxine Barlow (Ellie Paskell) led to tragedy after getting together with Earl Kelly (Reece Noi).
Other plots this series include new Head of PE Rob Cleaver (Elyes Gabel), who trains pupil Bolton Smilie (Tachia Newall) using pills that give him an unfair advantage and more of Head teacher Rachel Mason's (Eva Pope) secrets being exposed following the arrival of her sister, as well as her nephew. Also, troubled pupil Chlo Grainger (Katie Griffiths) giving birth and, finally, the return of former Head of Pastoral Care Kim Campbell (Angela Griffin), who smuggles a baby girl into the country on her return from Rwanda.
DVD release
Three different box sets of the fourth series was released. The first ten episodes of the series were released on 21 September 2009, and the back ten episodes were released on 26 April 2010. All twenty episodes were later released together on 18 October 2010. They were released with a "12" British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) certificate (meaning it is unsuitable for viewing by those under the age of 12 years).