This BBC series is set at Waterloo Road Comprehensive School, where the students' inadequate academic performance and the beleaguered teachers' constant frustration combine to produce an educational deficit and a surplus of old-fashioned soap opera. Aside from the accents and the different protocol in British education, there is relatively little here to differentiate Waterloo Road from any number of American programs about school angst—except, perhaps, that the teens don't spontaneously burst into Glee-style song-and-dance numbers, and the storylines are generally darker, with tangled plots weaving in incidents of sexual harassment, a student's death in an automobile crash, attempted arson, adultery, and a headmaster trying not to follow in his predecessor's path towards a nervous breakdown. Jason Merrells is frazzled top administrator Jack Rimmer, who might be in over his head with this assignment and so hires Oxford-educated Andrew Treneman (Jamie Glover) to provide help as his deputy. While the predictability of the scripts and so-so acting of the ensemble cast keeps this from being top-drawer TV, Waterloo Road has proven to be a favorite among Brits (the DVD cover touts the show as “The U.K.'s Most Popular Drama Series”). Compiling all eight 2006 episodes from the first season, this is a strong optional purchase. (P. Hall)
Waterloo Road: Series 1
Acorn, 2 discs, 414 min., not rated, DVD: $39.99 January 14, 2013
Waterloo Road: Series 1
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