Waterloo Road
Philip Martin Brown plays Grantly Budgen
What happened to Grantly at the end of last series?
"Grantly was surprised that, against all odds, Waterloo Road stayed open – and even more surprised that he retained his job!"
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How do you think Grantly has changed?
"He's definitely a little more careful where, when and to whom he grumbles, as he's not popular with senior management and they're looking for any excuse to sack him."
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How would you describe him?
"Grantly is Head of English at Waterloo Road and looking forward to retirement. He doesn't have a degree and is suspicious of the new teaching methods implemented by the new deputy, Andrew Treneman. Grantly has an old-school approach: you run the classroom through fear. Nothing will get him to adopt any new-fangled, wish-washy liberal approaches.
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"Basically, he's an educational dinosaur who cares little for his pupils but he's hanging onto his job by a thread. If I had to describe him in three words, I'd go for: cynical, disillusioned and sarcastic."
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Waterloo Road has a new investor this series – how does Grantly get along with him?
"He can not abide 'Roger the Bodger', who is a former pupil of his. The boy who couldn't string a sentence together is now flashing his cash around and Grantly believes he should leave education to the educationalists. But Roger wants revenge for the way Grantly treated him as a child at the school. Both he and Treneman want Grantly out: one for revenge and the other for altruistic idealism."
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Do you think you would make a good teacher?
"I have done supply teaching before and I've been told that I am a good teacher."
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What goes through your mind when you think of your own school days?
"The pain from the cane remains mainly in my brain."
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Which aspect of school did you enjoy the most?
"I went to Barrow-In-Furness Grammar School for Boys, which was then austere and quite repressive but my favourite subject was English – in that class I was able to express myself."
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What were your school reports like?
"Shocking! I was asked to leave the school at the end of the fifth year – I was a dreadful troublemaker."
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How did you do at school?
"I got three O-levels and then I went to a college of further education to take further exams which enabled me to go to teacher training college."
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