We have 8 new episodes of BBC’s iconic series Waterloo Road: ChiChi returns as her lead character Shola Aku, and Zanele stars in her first episodes as Jess Clarke.

Waterloo Road is an award winning series that follows the students and staff of a Manchester secondary school, often covering difficult and controversial topics. With its return in 2021, Articulate have had over 100 supporting artists involved, and 2 girls in great roles:

Chiamaka Ulebor (15) is back as Shola Aku, with a brand new storyline branching off from her home life struggles from Series 12. Her story covers a difficult and delicate topic – ChiChi does a brilliant job bringing Shola to life, and making the audience sympathise with her even when she makes mistakes. 

Zanele Nyoni (13) has a regular role as Jess Clarke, a new student with previously bad attendance. We see her trying to make friends at school. This is Zanele’s second cast role, after her role as the creative Izzy in CBBC’s The Dumping Ground, and she’s doing an incredible job! We can’t wait to see more of Jess around Waterloo Road, and we are excited to see what the year has in store for Zanele. 

Waterloo Road Series 13 is available on BBC iPlayer.