Strong return for Waterloo Road

Waterloo RoadBBC One’s school-drama Waterloo Road returned for its seventh season on Wednesday evening in a slightly earlier time-slot of 7.30 but the move didn’t harm its ratings as nearly 5 million viewers tuned in.

The sixth season of Waterloo Road only ended a few weeks ago but the BBC decided to air the seventh season almost immediately instead of waiting until September to start the “new term”. Joining the cast of Waterloo Road for its new series is Robson Green and Mark Benton both of whom starred together in the ITV1 drama series Northern Lights while former Hollyoaks actress Gemma Atkinson guest starred in last nights episode.

For the seventh season the BBC has moved Waterloo Road back to 7.30, following The One Show, instead of its usual 8pm slot. The move seems to have paid off though with an overnight audience of 4.9 million viewers, just under the 5 million mark. The rating for last nights episode are slightly higher than the season six average of 4.6 million viewers.

It was revealed last week that Amanda Burton, who plays head-teacher Karen Fisher, was quitting the drama.