Waterloo Road star shares verdict on new on-screen headteacher after Jason Manford’s exit

Waterloo Road actress Tillie Amartey has shared her verdict on her new on-screen headteacher, Dame Stella Drake, following Jason Manford’s exit as Steve Savage.

Former star Lindsey Coulson joined the current series as the formidable and often sharp-witted head of the school, and her arrival caused quite a stir.

Speaking about Lindsey joining the show, Tillie, who plays pupil Stacey Neville, revealed: “She’s phenomenal, honestly phenomenal! As an actress, as a person, she’s always got amazing stories to tell and she’s super patient. She would actually make a really good headteacher in real life.”

The pair were caught up in intense scenes after Stella wrongfully accused Stacey of pushing a teacher. Stacey’s mum, Gemma, arrived at the school to speak to Stella, who was her headteacher when she was at school.

After the pair faced off in a heated exchange, Gemma pushed Stella down the stairs before repeatedly kicking her in the stomach. Stacey realised that her mum was responsible and picked up Stella’s lifeless body, which ended up incriminating her as she was covered in blood.

Opening up about filming those scenes, Tillie explained: “It was honestly so bad when I had to film that scene at the bottom of the stairs and I had to hold her with blood everything.

“I was like, ‘This is awful’. There wasn’t much acting required for that, it was real,” Tillie admitted.

Outside of the show, Tillie is working with the Department for Education on its Skills for Life campaign, which encourages productive conversations between teenagers and their family members about their next steps in life.

She expressed: “Any time you’re around family, it can be a poignant question of what’s the next step, I just thought the Skills for Life website was so important and it’s actually a great tool for both parties, for adults and teenagers.

“You don’t realise what you can do and your grades don’t have to define you either, you can type in what your results are, there’s so many options, if you aren’t a classroom learner, there’s the practical side of things.

“There’s apprenticeships on offer that equate to the same level of qualifications, it actually puts your mind at rest that there’s loads of options out there. You can try new things, not like them and try again, the world is your oyster.”

Tillie has teamed up with the , which aims to help young people, adults and businesses realise their full potential by engaging in a range of skills and technical education offers. You can visit their website for more information about education and training choices and the support available from the National Careers Service.

Waterloo Road airs tonight at 9pm on One and iPlayer