Waterloo Road star admits having secret maths lessons after landing BBC school drama job
New Waterloo Road actress Saira Choudhry has revealed she had extra maths tuition after signing on the dotted line for the BBC school drama after 'scraping' by in her GCSEs
A Waterloo Road star has admitted to having maths tuition after bagging the job.
Saira Choudhry, 42, has joined the cast of the school-based BBC One drama as teacher Nisha Chandra and enlisted the help of a friend to understand her scripts because she “scraped” a pass in her GCSE Maths and couldn’t get her head around some of her lines that were based around numbers.
She is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper as saying: “I scraped a C in maths. I’m not the best at maths at all. I have a friend, Sam, and he is a part-time maths tutor. So when I first joined ‘Waterloo Road’ and I had these massive monologues, I would be like, ‘Sam, help me, what does this mean?'”
“He would send me maths videos and draw all these triangles. He’s been really useful.” The former Coronation Street star also used YouTube videos to make sure she was pronouncing complicated terminology correctly and is thrilled with her latest role because she has been a fan for such a long time.
She said: “I also get on YouTube as well and check that I’m pronouncing it right because you can always trust the children to tell you you’re pronouncing it wrong. It feels amazing to be part of the ‘Waterloo Road’ family. I’ve been a fan of the show for so long. “It’s because it’s set in Manchester, so I’ve always related to the show with the characters. Knowing it is set not far from my house, it feels really good to finally be a part of it.”
Jason Manford will play new headmaster Steve Savage in the upcoming 14th series of the acclaimed drama when it returns on Tuesday 10 September, whilst established cast members include Adam Thomas (Donte Charles); Kym Marsh (Nicky Walters); James Baxter (Joe Casey); Jo Coffey (Wendy Whitwell); Shauna Shim (Valerie Chambers); Neil Fitzmaurice (Neil Guthrie); Rachel Leskovac (Coral Walker), and Katherine Pearce (Amy Spratt) will also be back.
The BBC recently revealed that the drama had been commissioned for another two seasons which would air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer until at least 2026. Filming for the next series has already started, with Zak Sutcliffe who plays Schumacher ‘Schuey’ Weever has been teasing fans with the occasional behind-the-scenes glimpses.
Rope Ladder Fiction boss and Exec Producer for Waterloo Road, Cameron Roach, gushed: “We’re incredibly thrilled to be recommissioned for a further two seasons of the new era of Waterloo Road. This commitment by the BBC underlines the show’s ability to not only be a compelling entertaining drama for a younger audience but to also serve as a true talent incubator across the craft skills for a new generation of crew and cast.
