Daniel Chalky

Chalky is an accident waiting to happen. Nervy, with a bad haircut and old fashioned clothes - the minute he steps into a classroom every kid smells an easy kill. Incredibly bright and academic, on paper, Chalky is every head teacher’s dream. In reality, he is a very different story. He's unable to discipline a class - and the pupils run rings around him.

Chalky comes to Waterloo Road straight from the all-boys school he attended as a kid. Despite being on the receiving end of many a joke and prank there, Chalky got by as a teacher – even gaining the respect of much of the class, simply by being so passionate about his subject. Maths suits Chalky. It requires no opinion, no emotion and no modernisation. Equations will always be equations – there are no grey areas – just right and wrong.

Chalky lives with his mum. They moved to Rochdale because she has retired and they needed a place to live that would be more affordable on a single income. A sweet but slightly overbearing woman, Mrs Chalk has mollycoddled her only son since her husband died 20 years ago.

Chalky has become a bit of an oddball. Chalky's main problem is women. He’s never had a serious girlfriend, nor ever really been in love. Coming to Waterloo Road, he faces the biggest and hardest challenge of his career – teaching teenage girls - and he’s terrified.

Recently, we've seen Chalky struggle with class discipline to the point where he almost hit a pupil, but with guidance from Rob Scotcher and unlikely ally Janeece, Chalky has managed to instil some kind of order, respect and discipline in his classes.

Now Chalky pushes himself to the brink when he develops romantic hopes for the wrong women.