Ryan Thomas has shared his reaction after his daughter made her acting debut in the new Waterloo Road reboot last night.
In case you hadn’t heard, the first episode of the long-awaited revival of Waterloo Road hit our screens last night, and viewers nationwide tuned in to watch some of the original cast members step into the shoes of their beloved characters once again, alongside a new crop of new young acting talent taking the reins.
Waterloo Road originally aired from 2006 to 2015, and was one of the UK’s longest-running TV contemporary dramas, going on to show award-winning and highly-publicised storylines, draw in millions of viewers each week, and amass a cult-following of fans.
It also famously launched the careers of many young and emerging actors, and it could very much be set to do this same this time around.
One of the young stars forming the cast of the reboot is 14-year-old Scarlett Thomas.
ADVERTISEMENT
Scarlett Thomas in last night’s episode of BBC’s Waterloo Road reboot / Credit: BBC
Scarlett is the daughter of Coronation Street stars Ryan Thomas and Tina O’Brien, and the niece of Waterloo Road veteran Adam Thomas – who is known for playing the character of Donte Charles on the show from 2006-2009, and reprising the role in the 2023 reboot as the school’s caretaker.
In the new reboot series, Scarlett plays Izzy Charles, who is the daughter of her off-screen uncle’s character Donte, and other fan-favourite from the original series run, Chlo Grainger.
ADVERTISEMENT
Viewers of the show’s original run will remember following the storyline of Donte and Chlo’s rocky relationship that saw them get married at just 16 years old, and, in what was probably one of the show’s most memorable moments, saw Chlo give birth to Izzy in the school toilets.
Ahead of his daughter’s acting debut on last night’s episode, Ryan Thomas took to Instagram to share how proud he is of her, and his nephew Teddy – Adam’s real-life son, who is also playing his character’s on-screen son.
“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.”
He revealed that the Thomases watched the episode all together as a family, and added that it’s “beyond beautiful” and “so well shot”.
Adam Thomas also spoke of his pride ahead of his niece and son’s acting debuts in an interview with the MEN, calling it a “full circle moment” and hoping that it kickstarts the young stars’ careers.
Adam said: ‘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.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Waterloo Road is currently airing every Tuesday at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Featured Image – Ryan Thomas (via Instagram)
TV & Showbiz
Lady Gaga is a tour-de-force of talent at the Co-op Live Manchester
Clementine Hall
Lady Gaga proves she’s a truly world-class act after two sold-out nights at the Co-op Live Manchester, as if we needed any reminding.
The city of Manchester has been flooded with harness-wearing, mesh-sporting little monsters over the past two days.
And that’s because the absolute icon that is Lady Gaga brought her ‘Mayhem Ball’ to the Co-op Live for two nights.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t know who this fabulous woman is. Over the past decade, she’s won an Oscar, headlined the Super Bowl, performed in blockbusters alongside Al Pacino, no less, and her songs are literally ingrained into our minds.
It’s been a whole 11 years (yes, really) since she performed in Manchester, and it’s safe to say she was back with a bang.
The performance was split up into five distinct acts, and each one was as exhausting and exhilarating as the next.
She begins the show by bopping out of a comically huge red dress, but this staging was only the start of what madness was about to ensue.
Luckily, we’d been prepared by the other half of the Audio North team, who had the equal privilege of seeing her on night one and were left similarly speechless.
Throughout the 30-song epic, we had crutches, sand pits, cages, skeletons, enough wigs to produce an amateur production of Annie, and we didn’t question any of it. Why would we? It’s Lady Gaga.
Kicking things off with ‘Bloody Mary’, the two and a half hour marathon didn’t leave any stones unturned.
We had all the bangers, from ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Paparazzi’ to ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’, it had us wondering why any other superstar even bothers putting a song out these days.
Pop is in a good place at the moment with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and so on, but you can make a strong case for Gaga having helped pave the way for every lady in the business ever since.
Gaga truly had us in the palm of her hands (or claws at one point), even more so when she left the stage to de-robe and show her more vulnerable side for the last two songs – beanie firmly on.
It wasn’t just a concert: this was a fully-fledged tour de force of talent that Manchester won’t forget any time soon.
Sometimes there’s no point in intellectualising why someone has that ‘X-factor’; sometimes you just have to take a step back and say WOW.
Trailer released for new Harlan Coben thriller series Lazarus filmed in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
The trailer for Harlan Coben’s newest thriller series filmed in Manchester has been released ahead of airing later this month.
You may remember that, back in January of last year, Netflix confirmed it would be creating two more new Harlan Coben shows, following the smash-hit success of Fool Me Once starring Manchester’s-own Michelle Keegan – titled Missing You and Run Away.
Missing You went on to air on New Year’s Day this year, and it was announced in late January that Run Awaywas set to begin filming, again in Manchester, very soon.
But it turns out it’s not only Netflix that Harlan Coben fans need to be keeping their eye on, as Amazon Prime Video is now getting in on the action too.
First look images have been shared ahead of the release of Harlan Coben’s new thriller series filmed in Manchester / Credit: Ben Blackall (via Prime Video)
Prime Video has now released the official trailer for the highly-anticipated new thriller series Lazarus, which is based on an original story idea and written by the New York Times best-selling author, Harlan Coben, alongside his regular writing collaborator, BAFTA-winner Danny Brocklehurst.
Coben has worked with the critically-acclaimed Hyde-born screenwriter – who is most-famous for being the creator and writer of Sky One’s Brassic – for the creation of Lazarus, and it’s expected to be around the sixth time the pair have collaborated, with their previous successful works including Safe, The Stranger, and Stay Close.
Lazarus is set to follow title character Joel Lazarus who returns home after his father Dr Jonathan Lazarus dies by suicide, and begins to have disturbing experiences that can’t be explained.
He quickly becomes entangled in a series of cold-case murders as he grapples with the mystery of his father’s death and his sister’s murder 25 years ago.
The six-part thriller series stars big names like Sam Claflin as Joel Lazarus, and Bill Nighy as his father Dr Jonathan – with supporting performances coming from Alexandra Roach, David Fynn, Karla Crome and Kate Ashfield, to name just a few.
The show will be executive produced by Harlan Coben and Danny Brocklehurst, alongside star Sam Claflin, BAFTA-winner Nicola Shindler and Richard Fee for Quay Street Productions – which is part of ITV Studios.
All six episodes of Lazarus are set to be exclusively released Prime Video on Wednesday 22 October in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Emily Sergeant -
4th January 2023 
