Ahead of its much-awaited returned, a former Waterloo Road star has looked back at the impact her ground-breaking role had.
Brogan Ellis, from West Derby, played transgender teenager Kacey Barry in the BBC school-based drama and has now has said it was an 'invaluable' experience.
Brogan's character arrived at Waterloo Road and quickly realised they had gender identity issues. Viewers saw the talented footballer binding their chest with bandages and experiencing a form of gender dysphoria.
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The 26-year-old told the ECHO : "Waterloo Road was a brilliant experience, especially to play Kacey. They were a complex character, not your everyday teenager, so as an actor and for it to be my first acting role, it was an absolute dream.
"Of course, there were struggles. Playing Kacey was a challenge but being thrown in at the deep end felt like I was hitting the ground running with my acting career and it was certainly never boring.
"To be in a show filled with talented actors was an incredible learning experience as a young actor and completely invaluable."
Members of Brogan's on-screen family did not accept Kacey for who they really were with brother Barry, even being violent towards her.
For some time, Kacey used the name Robbie before deciding to detransition and think more on their gender identity when they were older.
Brogan, who was 16 at the time, said she did not know much about the transgender community, so much of her time was spent researching and meeting those with first hand experience.
The former Holly Lodge girl added: "Of course, all these experiences are individualised to the person, so I studied Kacey's character and background to put my own take on the character whilst respecting the trans community as much as I possibly could.
"It wasn’t like any other character I’d played up until that point - with transgender roles being rare at that time, they were few and far between. "
Despite admittingly knowing very little about the trans community beforehand, Brogan's acting resonated with many viewers.
Brogan says she still receives messages from young people saying they could relate to what Kacey was going through.
Brogan said: "Kacey put me in a privileged position where I could portray a character that transgender people could watch and relate to.
"Every single person has a right to comfortably be who they are, so receiving messages off people that feel it has helped them is euphoric."
Now with shows such as Pose and It's a Sin, LGBTQIA+ representation is much more present on our TV screens, something that Brogan feels is 'extremely important'.
She added: "I believe that transgender actors should have an equal opportunity to play all roles across the gender spectrum, not limited to transgender.
"MJ Rodriguez making history for being the first trans woman to win a Golden Globe, I believe, is just the beginning. I can't wait to see the talent of the LGBTQIA+ community shine, or as MJ put it 'storm in through the door.'"
Brogan jokingly added that it would be unlikely that she would be seen in a similar role anytime soon as she's 'most probably beyond the point in her life where she could pass as someone still in school'.
It was announced last September that Waterloo Road would be returning after six years, with some familiar faces set to reprise their original roles.
Waterloo Road last aired in March 2015, three years after they moved filming from Greater Manchester to Scotland.
But the BBC revealed that the new series of the award-winning Waterloo Road will be set and made in Greater Manchester once again.
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