Denise Welch promises ‘completely inappropriate’ Steph Haydock is ‘older but not wiser’ ahead of Waterloo Road return

There was one way Denise Welch would do something she’s never done – return to a role – and one way only. She’d only be willing to revisit her legendary Waterloo Road character, Steph Haydock, if she remained exactly as as she was, warts and all.

‘She was an iconic character, I think,’ Denise began, when asked why she decided to reprise her role as French teacher, Steph.

‘She was very un-PC in a world where we were allowed to be a little bit un-PC. I said to Cameron [Roach, Waterloo Road executive producer], “I love the idea of coming back but I do realise that we’re in 2025 and the days of Steph grabbing the headmaster and taking him into the women’s toilets for a s**g are probably done,” which is what she did 15-20 years ago.

‘We live in a very PC world and if Steph is going to come back and be seen as some kind of non-smoking, non-drinking, settled down person then it’s not for me. I don’t want to ruin people’s memories of the character she was. So within the restrictions of what 2025 – or 2024 as it was, I think, when I did it – what can we do?’

As it turns out, quite a bit!

‘They came back with this chlamydia storyline and I just thought: “That’s right up my street.” Steph’s come back with a bang and her heart is in the right place but she’s completely inappropriate and says what she thinks, but somehow often manages to do the right thing.

‘I think the boundaries were pushed a little bit and the BBC found it very funny. There’s nothing offensive but there wouldn’t have been any point in playing her if she’d become dull and dowdy and boring. So that’s what lured me back.’

Fans of Waterloo Road who’ve been with the show since it’s original run were sent into an utter tizz when it was announced that Denise would be reprising her role as Steph, who featured in the first six series of the school drama.

Steph wasn’t a traditional teacher by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, she was pretty awful; the social aspect of the job was much more appealing to her. Highly sexed and an unrepentant flirt, we asked Denise how Steph has evolved in her time away from the school.

‘Not a great deal! I think she’s more reflective. She’s prepared to apologise more. She’s aware how words can be taken differently by different people. Fundamentally she’s the same person.

‘She’s still looking for love. She still fancies quite a lot of people. She still looks for the alternate way to get things done, and very often it works. The other thing I said was although Steph would be 15 years older, I didn’t necessarily want her to be 15 years wiser.

‘It was important to me that, although you’re not seeing her having a sex life, because that would turn the viewers off in droves, it was important to me she was still sexually active in her mid 60s. Because you can still be a nana or grandma or whatever and still be sexually active and that’s not shown a lot on television. So it was important that that’s who she still was.’

Denise spilled the tea on a special relationship Steph will form with student Portia Weever (Maisey Robinson): ‘The thing with Steph is she always means well, not necessarily towards the other teachers but she does genuinely mean well with the kids. Portia is always dealt with as kind of the naughty kid. The one thing about Steph is that she has always taken on board the kids who people give up on.

‘She comes in and tries to find the person within Portia, and that’s very important to her. She always goes for the underdog and although it might be an unconventional way of teaching she usually gets through to them, and it’s a little bit like that with Portia.’

But it’s not just new faces she’ll be meeting. She’ll be reuniting with former head-teacher and former fling, Jack Rimmer (Jason Merrells). Asked about their reunion, Denise said: ‘She does take the micky out of him about wanting 30 year olds and there’s much more fun to be had with an older woman. So whether or not that would ever raise its head, as the actress said, I’ve got no idea.

‘I think the fact that they have a relationship which is different but still very important is really nice. It’s really nice for Jason and me as well. I’m very much in and out, as a supply teacher would be, but it would be awful to never do any scenes with Jason because we go back.

‘We’re still getting into trouble for laughing, we’ve still got to re-do scenes because we’re laughing and it’s usually because we’re reminiscing about some naughty things we got up to. Not together, but just generally back in the day in the good old, bad old days.’

Denise did admit to some first day back nerves, though she says these were quickly quashed by a rousing reaction from the new cast.

‘When I got to the school on the first day, they had kept the Waterloo Road ambience exactly the same – the stained glass windows, the uniform, the whole thing. It felt like 15 years had gone like that.

‘The other thing was one of my first scenes was in a classroom with all the teenagers. You always get a bit nervous on the first day of any job, however old you are. What was great was that all the teenagers who are now in it were huge fans of the original series. So I walked in and they all went, ‘Miss Haydock!’ In real life they said it!

‘So they already loved Steph the character, so I felt a warmth and an inclusion that they all knew this character and they knew her background and they knew she was a bit naughty. So they really relished the relationship they had, I didn’t have to win them over.’

…and when it finally came time to embody her old alter-ego again?

‘I opened my mouth and it was like 15 years had not happened. It was a nice feeling. I thought, “Wow, this really feels like coming home.” It was great.’

Welcome home, Steph!

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