Waterloo Road spoilers follow.
The 2006-15 Waterloo Road tackled almost every topic affecting teenagers that you can think of, but across its hundreds of students, only a tiny handful were disabled or neurodivergent. The representation was primarily of dyslexia, alongside Karla Bentham, a very stereotypical version of an autistic student.
In its new reboot, the BBC seems set to change that, with its seven episodes having a variety of disabled characters.
For neurodivergent viewers, the first episode provides a few moments of doubt over their ability to provide such representation. Chlo describes her son Tommy as having ADD, an outdated diagnosis generally no longer given, and one of the teachers is described as a "clean freak" with OCD, playing into harmful stereotypes.
Introduced during the protest kicking off the season, we meet student Kelly-Jo Rafferty, played by Alicia Forde. From the first episode we see her as what some might call chaotic, as well as chatty and fiercely loyal.
Of course, she isn't just chaotic. She has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but she – and those around her – are not aware of this.
In one scene, deputy head Joe Casey says: "It's the same story every time. You're confrontational, you're aggressive, you're disruptive."
Kelly Jo's ADHD impacts her throughout the seven episodes, but until the fourth, many viewers will see her as annoying or difficult, like when she asks if a minute's silence is over, which reads as disrespectful.
We realise in hindsight that this is likely due to her difficulties regulating attention and impulsivity. She has outbursts of upset and anger and struggles with explaining her emotions.
It's very relatable to watch her become more overwhelmed, her clear difficulty with being touched, her irritation sparking. ADHD can mean that impulsivity and differences in sensory processing cause you to react to sensory input the way Kelly Jo does, causing bigger reactions than many people can understand.
Kelly Jo also shows struggles with Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, like many people with ADHD. This is where emotional dysregulation can cause severe difficulties when feeling rejected. This increases over the episodes, starting when Kai doesn't sit with her at lunch and when she's told to shut up, rapidly rising with the threat of the behavioural unit.
She's also a sensory seeker, chewing on the handle of her bag, and she's seen with sensory toys several times. These subtle moments are a big part of feeling represented as a person with ADHD watching her – casual showings of neurodivergent traits are not common in the mainstream, and it's important to see these alongside the meltdowns and the difficulties she has.
In episode four, Kelly Jo's story comes to a head. Her day starts with a meltdown because she can't find her non-scratchy socks, anxiety and overwhelm rising in the drama workshop and eventually leading to her breaking the window after everyone shouts at her.
It shows the way that sensory overload, internal hyperactivity and emotional regulation differences can spiral and build up when neurodivergent people are unsupported and not given the tools they need.
After going through her reports, Miss Spratt – an Early Careers Teacher who is the epitome of Gen Z – brings up the possibility of ADHD, and it seems almost unfathomable it hasn't been suggested before. When they are sat with Kim, we finally get a look into Kelly Jo's brain and what's happening internally to make her act the way she does externally.
"Things just get on top of me and I don't know why. Stuff that doesn't bother anyone else bothers me.
"This morning I flipped out cos I couldn't find my right socks and I can never get myself together and everything's always too much or too hard… it's the noise, and the people. I just blow."
This discussion happening after we see the external circumstances means viewers are forced to rework how they view her or have judged her as just naughty or disruptive – and begin to understand where it comes from.
Kelly Jo's character brings a true possibility of better knowledge of neurodiversity in schools. Girls and women of colour particularly struggle to be identified and diagnosed with ADHD, autism, dyspraxia or other conditions. This storyline is important because it has such potential to widen ideas on who can be neurodivergent.
Her mum is confused by the idea of ADHD, bringing up the age-old idea that it can only be seen in naughty boys. This is a stereotype that a huge percentage of people still hold, and hearing it deconstructed on a mainstream TV show gives hope that some people will be able to unlearn it.
Hopefully, Kelly Jo's story will continue and show her learning who she is and being supported by the school – there is a huge opportunity for writers to open understanding on the types of help people with ADHD need to thrive and harness themselves.
At the moment, there's a risk it isn't going to go that way – die-hard viewers would probably expect Kim Campbell's character to engage with reasonable adjustments almost immediately, but instead she turns around and tells Kelly Jo that all rules have to apply to everyone.
Going forward, there should be a balance between the discipline needed with the realisation that people with ADHD have differing needs.
Similarly, Kelly Jo's friends need to get a handle on what this means for them and their relationships with her – when she first brings it up, Samia exclaims, "Would it explain why you won't shut up?", and it's clear that there is a long way to go for her peers to understand and help her. Watching that process also has the potential to show young people how to support neurodivergent friends, too.
There's also potential for discussions about failings of the system for neurodivergent people. The episode later, Kelly Jo asks how long it will take, setting up that it might take much longer than anyone would expect. With neurodivergent people in the UK waiting years for assessment, it would be realistic to show Kelly Jo needing support with navigating the lack of formal diagnosis.
Ultimately, Kelly Jo's storyline in the first seven episodes of the revamped Waterloo Road truly could support changing attitudes and understanding of neurodiversity in schools, and particularly of those who have long been left behind in diagnostic processes – but it's down to the writers to truly harness that.
Waterloo Road airs on Tuesday nights on BBC One. The new series is currently available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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