Waterloo Road’s Adam Thomas On Grief & Losing Chlo

If you grew up watching Waterloo Road, the BBC’s long-running series about a nondescript secondary school filled with drama and deceit, you’ll most likely remember Donte Charles. From his ever-present leather jacket to his rocky romance with fellow student Chlo Grainger, the bad boy-turned-good was a fan favourite. The role gave Manchester-born actor Adam Thomas his first big break, and he’s now set to reprise it after leaving the show thirteen years ago.

Back in the original run of the school drama, we left Donte and Chlo as they started a new life together near Manchester University, with Chlo continuing her studies, and Donte stepping up as a breadwinner. After getting married aged 16, the pair stuck together through thick and thin, with canteen fires, infidelity, and the unexpected arrival of their first child Izzie occurring along the way. Though they don’t quite head off into the sunset, there’s still the promise of a new start.

Following Donte’s departure, Waterloo Road’s titular school inexplicably moved to Scotland in 2011, and four years later, the much loved show ended for good. Now, though, it’s making its return, with a whole host of beloved characters from the OG series, including Donte and Chlo, and a brand new set of students. Bustle caught up with lead actor Adam Thomas to find out more.

[Warning: Plot spoilers ahead.]

You’ve had other roles since Waterloo Road — Adam Barton in Emmerdale, for instance — but a lot of people will always associate you with telly’s original loveable bad boy…

Donte wasn't really necessarily a bad boy! I mean, I think he was in the first couple of episodes, but then obviously, things took a turn. He ended up joy riding, and killed his best friend in the limousine crash, and that had a huge impact on him. He was getting sent down for it, and so he had a lot of growing up to do and fast. Everyone always says that he’s a bad boy, but I think it was all just a big front for him. When sh*t did hit the fan, I think he realised that there’s more to life than trying to be someone you’re not.

Were you similar to your character at school in any ways?

I wouldn't say that I was a good boy, but I was more of a class clown. I was always getting up to mischief. There's a few times they tried to expel me, but because I'm an actor, I just put on the waterworks [laughs] and they sort of let it go. I got away with things. The teachers didn't hate me, because they knew that I was a nice kid, but I was always getting up to no good.

Who was your most inspiring teacher?

My drama teacher, Mrs. Whitehead. She honestly was my backbone, and I probably would never be where I am today without her, genuinely. She always fought my corner, and she always knew that I was gonna make it, in a weird sort of way. It's so important that you have teachers like that, that do believe in you, even when you don't. As a kid, you need that sometimes.

Have you shown your children old episodes of Waterloo Road, back in the iconic leather jacket days?

I actually put the old series on for the kids, and they didn't even know it was me. They didn't have a scooby-doo, especially my three-year-old, Elsie! It’s very rare that I go back and watch my old stuff, but when I got the part for this, I went back for research, and looked at Donte and his story throughout the series. It was just mad, because I was just a kid when I was filming it. You forget what an amazing job it was and all the great storylines, too.

Donte’s kids on the show are played by your real family members: your son Teddy, and your niece Scarlett. How was that experience?

There are not that many opportunities in life, with jobs like this, where you get to work with your family, so it’s just one of those pinch-me moments. I remember that one of the first scenes on set together, Katie [Griffiths] was there, and Scarlett and Teddy, and we were all shooting this big family scene. We had all these cameras around, and all this crew, and I just had to take a step back and go… this is one to tick off. It’s definitely an experience that I'll never forget, put it that way. But yeah, it soon wore off to be fair [laughs] and we were fighting like cats and dogs all the time. But no, it's all fun and games. This was the first job that I ever had, and it sort of put me on the map and gave me a platform. Now it’s gone full circle and it'll be doing the same for them.

You and the original cast were still teenagers while you were filming the earlier seasons of the show. What are some of your favourite memories on set?

I joined that show when I was 16 or 17 years old. I was there for four years, and I just had the time of my life. I remember my first day on the original series, and the first time I’d ever done a scene with Katie Griffiths [Donte’s long-time love interest Chlo]. I was very nervous because it said in the script that we had to kiss, and I was like, ‘Oh god, I've never done a kissing scene before on camera.’ I just went in for the kiss during rehearsals, and she was like, ‘Wow, what are you doing?’ She just pulled away from me in front of everyone, and I was mortified!

How was it reuniting with Katie Griffiths all these years later?

Working with Katie, it was just like picking up where we left off. It was brilliant to go back, not only with Chlo, but her and Donte’s two kids as well, and to see how their relationship has built. They’re coming back as a big happy family. That was a huge selling point for me because they've had their ups and downs. I remember walking into the room with Katie and Angela [Griffin, aka. headteacher Kim Campbell] and I was literally welling up, man. Back then [filming the original series] I was just a kid, and now we're having conversations about our kids. It's just an absolute joy.

Understanding Donte's grief helped me understand my own grief. It was a blessing in disguise.

The new series of Waterloo Road engages with a lot of contemporary issues, including Black Lives Matter. How important is it for a show like this to evolve with the times?

That was one of the visions that Cameron Roach [the producer] wanted to bring to life. Some of the topics that we discuss and portray… they’re very relatable to what's going on nowadays. I think it's so important, especially for kids, to be able to watch these things and ask questions about everything that's going on. Everyone can relate, not only to the storylines, but also the characters. The fact that we are delving into topics like homelessness and Black Lives Matter is so important, because otherwise it wouldn't be a real portrayal of what's going on in the world.

Along with the show, you’ll also be hosting a Waterloo Road podcast…

Priyasasha Kumari [Samia Choudhry] is my co-host. We’ll do eight episodes to start with, and then we're going to go back and delve into the old series and the characters within them. We get guests on from the show and talk to them about their character, and their storylines and the whole process. We get a whole bunch of actors on, and just have a laugh. It’s just really nice, insightful, and light-hearted. I think people will really enjoy it.

In the closing moments of Waterloo Road’s first new episode, Donte’s life is completely turned upside down by the death of Chlo. How does he go about trying to rebuild from such a devastating event?

Throughout the series, he's dealing with it, and sometimes not in the right way. You’ll see Donny definitely grow a lot more than he originally did. At the same time, it was something that I could relate to, because I'd just lost my dad. Going through that grieving process definitely helped me to deliver some of the performances throughout the series, because it was something that was very close and very raw and truthful to me. I’d never realised that I was grieving so badly, as well. Understanding Donte's grief helped me understand my own grief. I'm very thankful that this storyline came up because then it made me deal with my sh*t as well. It was a blessing in disguise.