Waterloo Road

- Season 4

(2009)

Having survived the fire Rachel starts a new term having to 'welcome' the troublesome Kelly siblings. 15-year old Earl is a borderline psychopath who brings a loaded gun to school and prowls the corridors with slower,younger brother Denzil. When Rachel hears about the gun she evacuates the school and calls the police. Earl has given Denzil the gun and he is the one who gets arrested. Two new staff members arrive - handsome P.E. teacher Rob Cleaver and Melissa Ryan,who,unbeknown to everybody else,is Rachel's sister. Davina and Tom find themselves unable to leave work ...

Melissa has discipline problems due to disruptive Rose Kelly,and Eddie has to step in though eventually it is made clear to Rose that she must behave to impress her social worker. After Melissa's son Philip is bullied her kinship with Rachel is brought out in the open. Eddie is initially displeased but finds himself warming to Melissa whilst Steph,in an effort to avoid the love-lorn attention of new security officer Dave,tells him Grantly is her boyfriend. Come evening Davina and Tom's peace is shattered by the Kellys having a noisy party.

When Maori supply teacher Maaka Lacey makes a homophobic comment Davina reports him to Rachel but he counters by accusing her of racism. However his lazy attitude in sending disruptive pupils he cannot control on pointless errands backfires when it causes a fight between Tom and Earl Kelly and he is sacked. Elsewhere Steph finds herself playing landlady to Grantly,whose wife believed her little lie that they are an item and threw him out ,whilst Tom is troubled to find a dead bird on his door-step.

Steph reconciles Grantly and his wife before agreeing to a date with Dave. Following a visit to a falconry display Earl Kelly vehemently denies killing birds and leaving them on Tom's step but his sensible,older brother Marley tells Tom that he is lying. The war of attrition steps up between teacher and crazy pupil as Tom finds Earl vandalizing his car one night. Maxine,however,develops a crush on Marley,which unsettles Steph.

It's Drugs Awareness day at the school, and Rose starts her new job.

Sam has a shock when she is fostered with Mr Wilding. Donte organizes a boxing match between Mulvey and Bolton.

Pupil Danielle Harker is missing school and leads her friends to believe she is being abused by her father Andy. Eddie visits and finds that Andy is educating his daughter at home as he does not believe in the school system. Furthermore he is an excellent teacher. However Danielle has lied because she wants him to be a father,not a teacher and Eddie persuades him to let Danielle attend regular lessons. Eddie is further overjoyed as he is about to propose to Melissa but her son Philip tels Rachel that she is already married.

Rose is getting her children back and the school passes an inspection despite a confrontation between Tom and Rob (who is now dating Jasmine). Rachel tells Melissa she should inform Eddie of her situation; whilst Melissa claims she is waiting for her divorce, Philip tells Rachel that Melissa is still married to her first husband as well as his father. Steph is worried about Maxine, whilst Earl continues to convince Maxine they should settle down. Maxine meets a girl who claims she has had a baby by Earl, which he is hoping to sell. Things escalate when Maxine and Earl...

The school is in shock over Maxine's death. As the gun was originally thought to have belonged to Denzil,he is blamed but Paul, who saw Earl when he first brought the gun to school,tells Rachel the truth. Rachel and Steph both feel responsible with Rachel considering resigning though she stays on. Donte and Chlo,who is pregnant,decide to get back together and renew their marriage vows whilst Eddie whisks Melissa off for a beach wedding in Barbados.

When Eddie is told Melissa's secret on the eve of their wedding she leaves him. Jasmine also breaks up with Rob after discovering that he has been giving Bolton illegal pills to help him win a schools boxing match, leading to his sacking by Rachel. The Kelly family is evicted and temporarily move in with Davina and Tom. However Flick's father Ralph,unhappy that his daughter is still seeing Marley,offers the boy money to break up with her and he accepts,using the cash as a deposit. Chlo and Donte move back in with Tom and Davina.

As a new term starts Kim returns from Rwanda minus Andrew but with baby daughter Grace,whose paternity she is keeping to herself. She is dismayed to find that Chlo is considering leaving school to become a hair-dresser and,to Donte's displeasure,persuades her to stay on and take A levels. Flick is confused when she learns that Marley has somehow got together enough money for his family to move but he maintains the pretence of being aloof with her. A careers day brings former pupil and glamour model Sarah-Leanne to the school,who tells Kim she left school because she ...

Grace's uncle David arrives from Rwanda,demanding that Kim give a thousand pounds for his family's village. Kim is preoccupied with Karla,who has a talent as an excellent sketch artist but is being exploited by class-mate Michaela,who is selling Karla's drawings at a profit to herself. When Karla runs off Kim goes after her,realising that bullies should not win and refuses to donate the money to David. Janeece,inspired by Sarah-Leanne,has her boob job and becomes the envy of the class whilst Tom persuades Donte to encourage Chlo's academic ambitions and not resent ...

With Rachel on a course Eddie is acting head and has his hands full when a community of travellers arrive,seeking to enrol their children in the school. There is instant mistrust of the new-comers with accusations of theft - including the lead from the roof. Eddie decides to try and reconcile matters with a football match but things get worse - the Waterloo Road kids are far superior to the travellers,who resort to dirty tricks. Eventually the council moves the travellers on,though Eddie is rueful as one of them,Kyle,seemed to have promise. Flick discovers her ...

After confessing in Kim's sex education class that he is a virgin Philip is humiliated and aims to cancel his birthday party though Kim dissuades him and,to make him feel responsible,gives him SDI leaflets to distribute,which gets her accused of irresponsibility. Kim has to confess to Steph that she smuggled Grace out of Rwanda and now the immigration authorities are after her so Steph takes the baby into hiding with her. Flick,angry that Marley accepted money to dump her,gets drunk at Philip's party and throws herself at him though he resists.

Tom asks his friend Andy,an army officer,to coach the girls' football team though his efforts are sabotaged by the feud between Janeece and Michaela. To imbue a team spirit he suggests the girls take on the staff at an assault course but Michaela sabotages this,later confessing that she dislikes the army after her soldier brother's experiences in Iraq. Davina is annoyed that Tom has given two thousand pounds of their money to Rose to repay Ralph and walks out on him but Philip is increasingly smitten by Flick,who,in the cold light of day,is regretting her actions. ...

Jem Allen,a glamorous supply teacher,arrives and promises Matt that she will make sure her friend at the BBC comes to do a feature on the choir he has formed. However nobody turns up and when Matt rings to complain he is told nobody has heard of her. Jem then takes the staff to her palatial house where Grantly suffers a heart attack in the swimming pool and is rushed to hospital - but the house is not hers,she is a fantasist and Rachel sacks her. Donte is horrified when Chlo says she wants to give their child up so that she can go to university whilst Philip's ...

Steph returns with Grace from a supposed bout of shingles and instantly clashes with pupil Tasha Lefton,whom she accuses of cheating. Tasha also does some part-time model work and impresses Janeece,alienating her from her friend Danielle.Rachel believes Steph is picking on Tasha but Steph finds out that the girl is actually a diabetic and her poor eye-sight is caused by her unwillingness to take her insulin as it will cause her to put on weight. Rachel is impressed by Steph's concern for her and her efforts to persuade her to take her insulin and the discovery of her ...

The immigration officers arrive at the school to tell Rachel that Kim bought Grace illegally in Rwanda and must return her. Kim is heart-broken and breaks down as she and Grace are parted. Chlo and Donte are still arguing over her decision when she gives birth prematurely,Donte helping with the delivery. She has a baby girl,whom she calls Izzy and declares that she could not give her up now she has seen her. Happy step-grandfather Tom finds himself kissing Rose but Philip,expelled from the choir,plots revenge.

Rachel hopes that a fund-raising day for the Rwandan village will help Kim feel better and there is a surprise when Andrew turns up. Initially Kim blames him for getting the authorities onto her over Grace but each accepts that the other acted for the best and they kiss and make up. When the choir all go down with a mysterious illness Rose is under suspicion as she made snacks with past its sell-by meat but the culprit is Philip,putting laxatives in the brownies as his revenge. Marley gives Ralph the money he owes him and,after an irate Ralph has assaulted Marley and ...

Melissa reappears,pregnant with Eddie's child though Philip is not welcoming and Eddie persuades her to go to the police as a bigamist. The school is hosting a choir contest and the Waterloo Road entrants win. However Ralph turns up,drunk,and climbs into a digger, knocking down part of the school before Eddie stops him and he is arrested. Whilst Kim and Andrew reconcile and Chlo and Donte move into a flat in Manchester Eddie feels unable to stay on at the school now that Melissa's return has punctured his romance with Rachel.