Waterloo Road

A school drama where everybody cares about their school way too much, Waterloo Road is peak British TV for the people who grew up in late 00s, early 2010s. With an ensemble cast that grew and shrunk and switched a lot over the years, this serialized soap drama took on some bold storylines. Mostly, Waterloo Road did a good job of tying up different plotlines while exploring issues faced in real UK schools, but sometimes there was an overfocus on series arcs about the school and a neglect of showing different student needs/school issues. Realism is also a problem after the first few series, ironically when the show most starts finding its footing around Series 3-4 onwards. The move from Rochdale to Scotland of students and staff is ridiculous but the show continued cranking out good-enough series. Ultimately, I'd never rewatch and the show had its dips, but remains the best show-in-a-school I've seen, and is probably my generation's successor to Grange Hill. I hope that's good comparison for both parties.