Waterloo Road fans in tears as major character dies in first episode of reboot

Fans couldn't believe it!

Author: Alex RossPublished 4th Jan 2023

After eight years off our screens, popular school drama Waterloo Road made a hugely-antipcated return last night (Tuesday 3rd January), with some of the show's original stars returning to the troublesome school.

Beloved couple Chlo Grainger (Katie Griffiths) and Donte Charles (Adam Thomas) were two of the faces making a comeback, this time as parents to their two children Tommy Charles (Teddy Thomas) and Izzy Charles (Scarlett Thomas).

At the beginning of the episode, Donte was seen dropping off his wife Chlo and daughter Scarlett at the school, as a riot staged by the students took place in the yard. Due to the chaos from the protest, Chlo was involved in a minor car accident, which left her with a sprained wrist ahead of her pitch to headteacher Kim Campbell.

HOWEVER, in a major twist for the series opener, Chlo later collapsed at home, with a worried Donte rushing her to the hospital.

Then, in a closing scene which nobody saw coming, the doctors revealed the devastating news to Donte that his wife had sadly passed away, leaving viewers at home in shock and disbelief.

Fans of the show took to Twitter to express their feelings towards the scene. One wrote: 'Waited nearly 8 years for waterloo road to reboot just to have Chlo killed off in the first episode, livid😡'. (sic)

Another added: 'Hope everyone has a fab day, apart from the person who decided to kill Chlo off on the FIRST EPISODE OF WATERLOO ROAD', with a third writing: 'No way have they waited like 15 years to bring Chlo back from Waterloo road to kill her off in the first episode'. (sic)

A fourth commented: 'not them making a big deal about bringing back waterloo road and then killing off Chlo in episode one? the cheek of it! i will not be watching'. (sic)

Another then wrote: 'I can’t believe waterloo road brought back Chlo and Donte just to kill her off 😭 I’m literally still traumatised from watching Izzie and Maxine die over a decade ago, what the hell'. (sic)

Speaking to Manchester Evening News about her shock exit, actress Katie said: “When I had the initial sit down meeting with the producers and they told me what would happen, I think the bigger picture was just isn’t it amazing that I get to go back into the character again and work with Adam again and be part of it.

“It is sad that I won’t have that again but I’m just very excited for the show and to see what comes of it.”

Check out which other TV shows we can't wait for the return of:

The brand new rebooted series also saw the return of actress Angela Griffin as new Headteacher Kim Campbell, as well as former Coronation Street actress Kym Marsh as school cook Nicky Walters.

Actress Chelsee Healey, who played the infamous Janeece Bryant in the original show, will also make an appearance in episode two.

Waterloo Road continues every Tuesday night on BBC One, with all episodes also now available on BBC iPlayer.

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