'Waterloo Road' to launch search for new school set

Waterloo Road bosses have confirmed that the search for the show's new set will begin next week following the news that the programme is leaving Rochdale.

Yesterday, it was announced that the BBC drama will be filmed in Scotland from next year, but the exact location for the show's new home has yet to be found.

Bosses at Shed, the production company behind the programme, have now told Herald Scotland that scouts will soon be sent out to find a disused school or office building which will become the new Waterloo Road.

"The show is about a community so we will be looking for somewhere that has got that feel to it," Shed's chief executive Eileen Gallagher explained. "It is not a gritty urban drama, so we will need somewhere that has some greenery.

"It is all shot on location and we are looking for a school or an office building that can double as one. Our last location was a school in Rochdale and it was crumbling, so we hope the new one will be more high-tech and modern because that is what schools are like nowadays."

As revealed yesterday, an "explosive" storyline is being planned to explain the move. The plot will result in a group of existing pupils and teachers setting up a new independent school in Scotland, which will also use the Waterloo Road name.

Gallagher added: "The story will transfer to Scotland, but will feature the same teachers and pupils, although new characters will also come in. It will feature more Scottish actors."

Waterloo Road's first episodes to be set in Scotland will air from September 2012.

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Watch a clip of George Sampson as Kyle in Waterloo Road in the video below: