I reserve my opinion, usually, until at least the second/third episode of the series. And we’ve had two episodes – so here we go.

For the most part, I’ve got to say – I’m liking it. A lot. One reason is that there’s a bit more continuity about it. (So far) we haven’t had a “one episode wonder” storyline, where there’s an interesting character around for one episode, and then they mysteriously vanish from the school with no follow up. And looking at the spoilers, it seems that there isn’t going to be any.

While Series 1 & 2 did have a couple of “One episode wonders”, they didn’t populate the school as much as they did in the last few series. Don’t get me wrong, I like them – for example, Bad Girls (ah, they were the days) started to have them from Series 6 – and it was interesting. But that was usually one a series, and a couple of “few-episode wonders”. But Waterloo Road, for a while, seemed dependent on them, and continual storylines were pushed towards the back and sometimes never fully explored. But, as I said, don’t get me wrong – I did enjoy the last few series – but it’s something I noticed when watching.

Of course, it’s hard to judge Michael Byrne so early on – especially after wonder-heads Jack Rimmer, Rachel Mason and Karen Fisher – but he’s in the right direction. And there’s an interesting dynamic to the Diamonds – I must say, little Miss Madi was a little bitch, but I enjoyed her antics – although I nearly dry-vomited seeing Janeece pull out a long hair from her soup (but at least they weren’t short and curly!!).

And, ah – it’s great seeing Matt Wilding back. Knowing what’s coming up for him will be very interesting – especially in regards to my last post.

And Trudi and Tariq – I love Trudi already. Although there’s been Islamic characters in Waterloo Road before, they’ve never been explored in great detail – and this is something I’m looking forward to seeing… Although I really can’t understand what people see in Finn Sharkey…

Tom Clarkson – Deputy Head – at last. And Grantly’s an absolute gem as always. And I can’t say I’m sorry that Amy Porter suddenly disappeared out of Waterloo Road.

There are a few bits and pieces I find griping me, however. Phoenix Taylor. Now, bare in my mind, these are just my opinions – but, uh. Don’t think he’s that well acted. Who knows? He might surprise me in some of the future episodes.

And roll on Sarah Hadland as the New Head of English…!

With the series relocating to Scotland soon, it’s going to be a shame that some of the current cast will have gone – including all the final year graduates. Here’s hoping Tom and Grantly, the only two originals (apart from Janeece – but she left for a series, so she doesn’t count) stay on board a while longer.

What do I think of the move to Scotland? Oooh, aye  – you’ll just have to wait and see.

As you can see I’m no critic – just a few thoughts to pass the time…!

Anyway. What do you think so far? Leave your comments below! 

I suppose I should talk about Shed Extra! first… or should I? Well, okay then. Basically these are my own thoughts and opinions on Shed Shows. What I’m hoping (whether it will happen or not is a different story) is a bit of debate, opinion and review. And I’m hoping to get contributions from you guys – ordinary members of the website-viewing public…

So, if you do want to contribute something to this blog, REGISTER… Log in, and send me a message. Or email tadgh@shed-insider.net – and then I’ll tell you to register if you haven’t already.

Anyway… Let’s get back on topic.

Gayness. What do I mean by that? Well, it’s a term I use, perhaps tongue-in-cheek to mean LGBTness. LGBT? In case you don’t know, that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. Some people add a a “Q” for Queer on the end to incorporate the generally “Queer” into the bracket. I often forget, or can’t be arsed typing the extra letter.

Now, Bad Girls, in all it’s glory had quite a large LGBT(Q) following. Well, when I say large, I mean massive. It had a massive effect. I remember reading that one woman, after coming out as a lesbian, was rejected by her family. But, after her mother watched the prison-based drama, things changed. She was accepted. Bad Girls had the kind of effect. Indeed, what I call the LGBT(Q) Academic/Activist following, took the drama very seriously. They wrote essays (see http://www.badgirlsannex.com/ for some brilliant essays – though they came later in Bad Girls lifespan, but focus on the first few series), and analysed and commented on the episodes and storylines in a way that could have made Bad Girls & Queerology a University degree.

Now what made Bad Girls have this effect – particularly in the first few series? Well, it started in 1999. Although the UK was liberal, “gayness” on television (as some would put it) wasn’t completely accepted. Only some eleven years earlier, did EastEnders introduce gay characters Colin & Barry, leading to EastEnders being named by The Sun newspaper, “EastBenders”. Brookside was the first soap to air a pre-watershed kiss, only five years earlier in 1994 – and it caused some controversy. Nowadays, it doesn’t seem the bad. Look at the soaps now – Christian and Syed in EastEnders, Sean in Corrie (and his boyfriend – is it Marcus? I haven’t watched Corrie for a while…) and a new same-sex couple arriving in Emmerdale featuring one of my favourite actresses, Alicya Eyo.

It’s accepted as a norm – although Daily Mail type readers would like to put forward the view that it’s becoming “over-homosexualised”.

Now, where was I? Ah yes. Bad Girls. Gays. Lesbians. Etc.

If we look at Bad Girls’ first series there was – Denny Blood, a lesbian. Shell Dockley, a bisexual – of sorts (her attraction to women was more of what she could get out of them – like what she could get from lovesick Denny Blood), and Lorna Rose – obviously gay, but it was never specifically mentioned. What was interesting about Lorna, was that in her official character promo it was mentioned that Lorna was gay, but too afraid of going to gay clubs in case she ran into an ex-inmate… If only Lorna could’ve made it through to Series 2, it could’ve been explored…

I’m rambling, sorry. ANYWAY – there was – of course Nikki Wade. A feminist-hero and a gay icon if ever there was one. Confident, beautiful and funny. And then there was her storyline with Helen Stewart. It was beautiful. She was an inmate, her an officer who was going to be married to Sean the Prawn. Eventually, Helen gave into her feelings.

It wasn’t so much that Nikki ‘converted’  Helen to lesbianism (although Helen was clearly bisexual – she was attracted to Dr Yes Yes – Thomas Waugh, in Series 3, although she muttered the beautiful lines,“Thomas is gorgeous… He’s everything you could want in a man. But I want a woman.”

Some would say Bad Girls had an LGBT cause. I suppose it did. But it captured hearts and imaginations everywhere – and gave the internet fuck loads of fan fiction. Indeed, Bad Girls was full of queer heroes – Nikki Wade, Helen Stewart, Denny Blood (although she started off as a baddie – she soon became very well loved, and while not a figurehead for lesbianism, she certainly was for survival, and a victim of evil men), Kris Yates (who could’ve gone further than she did) and of course, atheist Priest-bashing heroine Pat Kerrigan.Bad Girls gave lesbian, gay and bisexual viewers heroes. They’d existed before, sure, but these heroes were strong. God(ess) like.

But it also had the balance… Shell Dockley, in the LGBT bracket, was popular – but a fucking psychopath, and not the guide of woman you’d want leading an LGBT campaign. Neil Grayling arrived as some depraved pervert after Jim Fenner (was he mad???) – but he eventually became quite a nice guy (and he gave evil Fenner a taste of his own medicine). There was Al McKenzie – a bully, and a bitch. Aw, and little Shaz Wylie – lovely, but a pain in the arse at times who could be incredibly selfish and sulky. Christopher Biggins even made a cameo.

It was ironic, but Bad Girls – even though set in a prison – was some kind of utopia for LGBT acceptance. As Di said to Neil, “If they got rid of all the lesbian officers, there wouldn’t be much of a prison service left.”. Quite true, but aside from a few dirty foul-mouthed comments from homophobe Fenner (he couldn’t understand why anyone would choose a woman over him!), lesbians were accepted in prison. And there were plenty of them.

So that’s Bad Girls. But what about Waterloo Road?

Now, Bad Girls set out to shed light on the failings of the prison system – and it did. If I recall correctly, it even lead to a bit of jailhouse reform. Waterloo Road set out to do the same with schools. Now, the education system is equally, perhaps more important than the prison system in our society – but was the battle already being fought? Who knows. One thing that is for sure, however, is that Waterloo Road became a ratings hit for the BBC.

Perhaps Shed thought the Queer cause had already been fought? Perhaps not. Series 1 did, for an episode, deal with a gay student and his bullying for his sexuality, but it was rather a minor storyline for the whole series, and also a plot device for trapping Kim Campbell into the traps of Lewis Seddon. But it did raise a good point – Lewis was clearly straight, but why was he so threatened by homosexuals? Upbringing, probably, but this wasn’t really explored any further.

But Waterloo Road didn’t feature any LGBT heroines in the same way Bad Girls did. Heck, even over-glamorous Footballers Wives had the ball-breaking Hazel Bailey, a red-haired, straight-talking lesbian who was never ashamed of her sexuality, and always prepared to be ‘one of the lads’ when it came to drinking or shifting their arses into gear.

The first glimpse we had was Matt Wilding – a drama teacher. A great character (I’m so glad he’s returning), and he fought his mother over his sexuality and his boyfriend (that sadly ended). But would you class him as an LGBT hero? I’m not sure. A character, yes, but a hero? It did highlight some of the prejudice he faced from his mother, and from Steph (although she was definitely not homophobic – just gutted she couldn’t sleep with him!). We did also see Matt go into fostering (with Sambuca), but his sexuality wasn’t really an issue – perhaps a good thing, in all respects. Matt Wilding was a man uncomfortable with an open sexuality, something which was eventually amended.  And then he left.

Come Series 5 – and uh-huh – we’ve got a lesbian teacher. Straight-talking, ball-breaking, but charming and classy – Jo Lipsett. Now, had the character gone on further than Series 5 (I’m not sure if it was a Shed axe or an actress’ decision to leave), we could’ve had a bit more of an LGBT fight… But she left. What was great about Jo was her relationship with self-confessed fag-hag Steph Haydock. They went gay clubbing, and eventually ended up in bed – not as lovers, but as a friend caring for a pissed-up co-worker… God bless Steph!). I’m sure I’m not alone that at the time, many hoped Steph Haydock was a bisexual. She was an extremely likeable and popular character – she had faults (as did many of the Bad Girls heroines), but she was great. It turned out, she wasn’t, and she did briefly question her bisexuality. (It reminds me of that old joke – “What’s the difference between a straight person and a bisexual?” “A fuck load of alcohol”).

Anyway, Jo left. And many, including myself, were sad. Not because an LGBT figure had left, but because I liked her character. She was fun. And she couldn’t sing (“Power of Love” karaoke moment, anyone?). Our next glimpse of ‘gayness’  wouldn’t arrive until Josh Stevenson… Ah, Josh…

Perhaps Josh is an unlikely LGBT hero. And I’ll explain why. If we look at LGBT heroes in Shed’s programs, they’re usually strong. Heroic. Survivors. Helen Stewart, Nikki Wade, Pat Kerrigan, Denny Blood, Hazel Bailey – among others – all interesting, larger than life characters.

And then there’s Josh.

Now, there’s a lot of Josh fans out there, and I’m not going to isolate myself from them. I do like Josh. But we all agree he’s hardly a memorable, ‘jump-out-at-you’ type character. And perhaps that’s what’s great about him. He’s gay. He’s struggling to come out with his sexuality, and his father, Tom, has struggled to accept it. And it was a great storyline – but if I’m honest, the best part of it was seeing Tom – a bloke’s bloke – struggle with it and come to accept it.

Now, I’d hate to accuse the character of being dull… Far from it. But I think most people can agree that his ‘coming out’ storyline was perhaps the most exciting he’s been (in fairness, he’d only been in one series before that). But then Josh got a boyfriend, Nate. And Nate showed some potential (but he wasn’t present for Series 7). Here he was, sporty, athletic, good-looking – and gay. But the closest Nate and Josh came to excited for the LGBT watching public was Tom’s bashing from Nate’s dad (very well acted by Jason Done).

We then go to Series 7 – and Josh hasn’t been up to much. No boyfriend. No issues with his Dad over his sexuality… All is calm…

And back to my point, this is perhaps why Josh is an unlikely LGBT hero. He’s not always dramatically-paced, he’s not always facing a drama…. He’s capable of being quite dim, quite mundane… and well… normal…!

But who wants normal? And furthermore, why am I writing this…? Well, without having a big parade to celebrate it, me, I am a bisexual. And I like seeing affairs. Hetero and homosexual. I’ve always – since a young age (thanks to a diet of EastEnders, Bad Girls and God knows what else…) been fascinated by LGBT characters. I enjoy them. I absorb them. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps being in that queer bracket makes them more exciting, who knows?

The truth is, when you have a hero – you want them to always be facing drama. If you wanted normality, you wouldn’t watch TV. Soaps, dramas, comedies – they’re not about reality. They’re about larger than life characters. Even reality television (for the most part) wants to show it’s audience a load of freaks, weirdos and people-champions.

Now, one could suggest that the reason why Waterloo Road doesn’t have a big LGBT cause is because Bad Girls already did it – and homosexuality is part of the norm within prison. But why isn’t it within schools? Recent events have shown us being gay IS still a big deal in schools – the recent ‘gay suicides’ (as they were termed) in America have shown us it isn’t accepted. Many gay, bisexual and transgender people still face discrimination. Waterloo Road flirted with the storyline of transgenderism in Episode 7.2, when a male student was confused because he felt he was born in the wrong body – but this was, like a lot of WR storylines, a one-episode deal. I, personally, would’ve liked to have seen the follow up.

Perhaps being gay isn’t really that big a deal anymore – and if that’s true, thank God! – but the truth is, we like to see people like us struggling. If we’re different from the norm, whether we be a different sexual orientation, a different race, a different whatever – we like to see people on television just like us. People who are like us – but facing dramas that are over-dramatised and over-exaggerated.

Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that Bad Girls was (especially in the first series) a lot more dramatic, controversial and hard-hitting than Waterloo Road.

The Shed Productions’ production team isn’t short of it’s LGBT people, either. Far from it! So no-one can accuse them of being anti-LGBT (if you think that, you’re an idiot) or afraid to tackle LGBT issues. Maybe it’s a case of been there, done that? Perhaps it wouldn’t fit into the Waterloo Road framework? Perhaps it has been there – but viewers chose to notice it more in Bad Girls?

Who knows. But I do know that with Matt Wilding’s return – I’d like to see a bit of LGBT drama (and NOT an affair with Josh Stevenson…). Perhaps Matt could return with a partner? Or a child? Well, the scripts have been written. I, like you, will have to wait and see…