Former Corrie star Ryan Thomas has spoken of his pride as his family grace our screens for the revival of the school drama Waterloo Road. The popular Rochdale-based show, which launched back in 2006 and ran until 2015 after relocating to Scotland, returns to BBC One tonight (Tuesday January 3) with episodes airing on TV each week and the full series now available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Ryan, 38, who played Jason Grimshaw in Coronation Street, is thrilled that not only is younger brother Adam, 34, back as Waterloo Road pupil Donte Charles, he's joined by Ryan's daughter Scarlett, 14, and nephew Teddy, eight. Scarlett, Ryan's daughter with his ex Tina O'Brien, and Teddy, Adam's son with dancer Caroline Daly, play Donte and wife Chlo Grainger's children Tommy and Izzie.
At just 17-years-old Adam joined the cast of the first ever series of Waterloo Road as bad boy Donte Charles, whose relationship with Chlo, played by Katie Griffiths, became a staple of the show. Viewers followed the pair's rocky relationship that saw them get married at just 16 and in one of the show's most memorable moments Chlo gave birth to Izzie in the school toilets.
READ MORE:
The couple left the show at the end series four as they moved into a house together to bring up their child. Speaking into the camera in a message shared on his Instagram Ryan enthused: "What a time to be alive. Waterloo Road, my little brother Adam, my little nephew Teddy and eldest daughter Scarlett take over the TV screen together as a family.
"Talk about a proud moment for the Thomases. I can't wait for you guys to see it. We watched it together as a family." He added: "It's beyond beautiful, so well shot."
In an exclusive chat with the Manchester Evening News, former Emmerdale actor, who went on to play Adam Barton on the ITV soap for almost ten years, revealed what it's been like returning to the show that put him 'on the map'.
"It felt absolutely amazing to be asked to come back, it's just one of those dream jobs," said Adam. "This show means the world to me, it put me on the map and I've got so much to thank this show for so the fact that I got approached when they were thinking about bringing it back was incredible. I never saw it coming.
"I just got a phone call one day saying 'this producer wants to meet you, but I can't really tell you much about it'. I didn't have a clue, I just went to meet him and the next minute he said that Waterloo Road might be coming back and that they'd love me to be a part of it again, and I just said 'where do I sign up'.
Adam said about being back playing Donte: "Now we're back and I'm 34 with two kids, times have definitely changed. It feels like home on set, maybe a little too much." He joked: "I thought it would be a good idea but on like day two they were having a fight, Teddy's crying and I'm like 'what have I got myself into here.'"
He revealed Teddy wasn't originally cast to play his son on the programme. "Originally Teddy didn't get the part," he admitted, "I think he got down to the last two and then they gave the part to someone else.
"But unfortunately that kid couldn't do it, so they called me up to the office and I thought 'oh god what have I done, I'm in trouble already', then they said 'we're thinking about giving the part to Teddy now, do you think he'd take it', and I said 'of course yeah'. So after telling Teddy that he didn't get the part, I had to go back and tell him that he got it. He just started crying."
Adam hopes this kickstarts his son and niece's careers. "'It's just a dream come true the fact that Scarlett and Teddy get to start their career off on the same show that I did many moons ago, it's just unbelievable, it's full circle, it's magic how life works out," Adam said.
"As a family we like to be centre of attention and are clowning around all the time, and Teddy and Scarlett both have that abundance, they just love it. Teddy is like a sponge. He sees Scarlett and he just does whatever she does. He just wants to be in it more.
"If I can help put a foot through the door then I'm going to do it. But at the end of the day they've still got to do the talking and I think they do that the show."
READ NEXT:
