Jason Manford to join cast of Waterloo Road as new headteacher

Jason Manford is to join the cast of the new series of Waterloo Road.

Fresh from its recent episodes, the BBC has announced that Waterloo Road will return for its next series later this year.

Jason will play Steve Savage, who has a big impact on the staff and pupils at Waterloo Road when he becomes headteacher – but not before ruffling a few feathers along the way.

While Jason’s new role as headteacher will leave fans questioning how the future looks for current headteacher Kim Campbell (Angela Griffin), viewers will have to wait and see how the storyline plays out.

Jason Manford said: “What an absolute treat it is to join the cast and crew of Waterloo Road, right here in my home city of Manchester. My kids and I binged the show on iPlayer during lockdown. It’s such a brilliant, iconic show, so I’m dead proud to now be part of its history. Growing up, I always wanted to be a teacher and now becoming a headteacher, I know I would have been terrible!”

Also joining Waterloo Road in the next series is Saira Choudhry (No Offence, Life) as Nisha Chandra, Waterloo Road’s newest maths teacher, alongside a host of new students: Olly Rhodes (The Last Kingdom) as Billy Savage, Nathan Wood as Boz Osbourne, Sonya Nisa (Damsel) as Aleena Qureshi, Miya Ocego (Wreck) as Lois Taylor-Brown, Danny Murphy (The Parts You Lose) as Luca Smith and Matthew Khan (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder) as Jared Jones.

Adam Thomas (Donte Charles) and Kym Marsh (Nicky Walters) will also return, alongside the teaching staff played by James Baxter (Joe Casey), Jo Coffey (Wendy Whitwell), Shauna Shim (Valerie Chambers), Neil Fitzmaurice (Neil Guthrie), Rachel Leskovac (Coral Walker), and Katherine Pearce (Amy Spratt).

Returning to the series is the student cast Aabay Noor Ali (Mollie “Mog” Richardson), Alicia Forde (Kelly-Jo Rafferty), Chiamaka (ChiChi) Ulebor (Shola Aku), Francesco Piacentini-Smith (Dean Weever), Hattie Dynevor (Libby Guthrie), Liam Scholes (Noel McManus), Lucy Eleanor Begg (Caz Williams), Maisey Robinson (Portia Weever), Noah Valentine (Preston Walters), Summer Violet Bird (Tonya Walters), Thapelo Ray (Dwayne Jackson), Tillie Amartey (Stacey “Stace” Neville), and Zak Sutcliffe (“Schuey” Weever).

All episodes of Waterloo Road are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.