Waterloo Road Reunited was commissioned in Autumn 2010 as an online brand extension to the popular BBC One series Waterloo Road which is currently in its sixth series. The project uses a combination of scripted episodes and activity on a fictional social network to follow seven of the most popular Waterloo Road pupils after they finished school at the end of series five.
Eileen Gallagher, CEO, Shed Productions comments, “Waterloo Road is one of our biggest brands and we are thrilled that BBC have decided to take the series online”.
Shed Media Scotland engaged three recent graduates from the Caledonian University MATV Screenwriting course to write material for the project. The company also worked in partnership with Inner Ear and Radio Magnetic to create a realistic dubstep and grime soundtrack for one of the episodes and a one-off radio track presented by Bolton Smilie (Tachia Newall) ,one of the show’s lead characters.
The story is pinpointed by six video episodes; Reunion, The Gig, Stags and Hens, The Wedding, A Quiet Night In and Bon Voyage. In between the episodes more insight can be gleaned into the characters lives by reading the messages they send to one another on their social network. Viewers also had the chance to watch the weekly episodes via the BBC One Red Button service after episodes of Waterloo Road finished.
Margaret Scott, Head of Business Development for Shed Media Scotland said:
“We are delighted the BBC appreciates the increasing appetite for extended content by young people and the growth of social networking and streamed content to mobile devices and online platforms. Fans of Waterloo Road are prolific users of the web as activity on BBC iPlayer, Waterloo Road website, many Facebook fan sites and Twitter testify. Waterloo Road Reunited is a natural extension designed to sate this appetite. Shed Media Scotland aim to be at the forefront developing and producing engaging and entertaining content that taps into and exploits these emerging trends.”
Waterloo Road Reunited was produced by Kat Hebden and executive produced by Margaret Scott.
You can check out the blog and watch the episodes here.