Waterloo Road

Dean and Sophie (aka Philip and Ross ) talk to Slink Aiss, about their shared geek status, awkward silences and the difficulties that come with being in a relationship despite belonging to rival schools.

Watch Dean and Sophie discuss their characters and their dynamic on-screen relationship.

New Executive Head Teacher Max Tyler is a driven, highly ambitious man with a hard-working ethos who measures schools' achievements via league table success. For Max, children need boundaries, discipline, a sense of purpose and respect for others. Max believes social disadvantage shouldn't hold children back nor should pupils be able to use their circumstances as an excuse for bad behaviour.

Max's Deputy Head is Christopher Mead. In his early thirties and born and bred in Cheshire, Christopher is the son of self-made working class parents. Ambitious and attractive, Christopher followed his parents' example on leaving school and won himself a high-powered job in the city, where he excelled at chasing big bucks. When he lost his job Christopher turned to education as a stopgap, but discovered his true calling as a science teacher and is one of the most popular members of staff – especially among the female pupils.

New English teacher Helen Hopewell is just 23 and in her first year as a qualified teacher. She is enthusiastic and shiny-eyed but, unfortunately, incompetent and weak-willed. Quickly nicknamed "Hopeless Hopewell" by the pupils, Amy and Michaela in particular grind Helen down and, while Tom does his best to take her under his wing, Helen doesn't seem to be improving. Instead she blames all her failures on the "savagery" of the Waterloo Road pupils.

Ruby Fry is in her late thirties. She is airlifted in by Max to teach the kids how to cook because it's now a compulsory part of the curriculum. She's passionate about food and cooking but is an outright snob and looks down her nose at both the Waterloo Road pupils and staff alike. Ruby's job allows her to indulge in her favourite pastime, which is showing the plebs how it's done. And she's not above dispensing advice in areas outside of cooking, if she believes her expert guidance is necessary.

New lower sixth John Foster's girl Lindsay James is the daughter of fairly well-to-do parents and a hard nut to crack. Lindsay has traditionally been a model student, but after her mother, Marion, is arrested on suspicion of murdering her father, Lindsay explodes like a rocket at the smallest infraction. Unable to face the enormity of events at home, she throws herself aggressively into the growing gang war and soon finds herself at the head of the John Foster's girls. And the only time we ever see her let down her "hard as nails" persona is when she's looking out for her little sister, Em.

Josh is a fairly average lad. He grew up with his mother Georgia and their status as a single-parent family has made Josh fiercely defensive of her, perhaps rendering him a little over-sensitive to ridicule. Josh rejects more macho pursuits like sport and football in favour of music and is a capable, if not utterly dedicated, student. He carries a secret chip on his shoulder and can't help but feel resentful towards the father he believes abandoned Georgia when he found out she was pregnant. But he is about to discover that his absent father is closer to home than he thinks.