Steph Haydock

Steph Haydock
Waterloo Road character
Portrayed by	Denise Welsh
Duration	2006––
First appearance	1x01
Created by	Ann McManus & Maureen Chadwick
In-universe information Occupation French Teacher Former Head of Modern Languages Former Head of Finance Former Head of Pastoral Care

Stephanie "Steph" Haydock is a fictional character in the BBC television drama series Waterloo Road. She is portrayed by Denise Welch. What she lacks in teaching ability, she makes up for in getting inside the minds of the pupils. However, her poor disciplinary skills and her sometimes inept methods of tutoring the kids in French does give them the impression she is something of a joke. This had led to some bolchiness levelled at her from Chlo Grainger and Tasha Lefton. Nonetheless, she has managed to remain employed by Jack Rimmer and Rachel Mason, in spite of her shortcomings. Steph is one of the longest cast members of waterloo road alongside Tom Clarkson and Grantly Budgen, appearing from 1x01.

Welch quit the role in 2009, and she will depart sometime during the fifth series.

Series 1 & 2

Steph Haydock is the head of French at Waterloo Road. She is a lenient teacher, knowing she can't control her classes often, despite this the pupils seem to like her. Due to this, her classes are usually 'running wild'. Nobody at the school has respect for her, not even her colleagues. Haydock's rivalry with Davina Shackleton has driven her to report her one-night stand with sixth-former Brett Aspinall to Rimmer, who initially dismissed it as "mailicious gossip" as he believed she was manipulating his relationship with Davina as she was jealous and had chosen Brett as the pupil to implicate as she knew he hated Brett. However, Davina soon confessed that she had once dated Brett, and Jack only got over this when he was sure that it happened before either of them came to Waterloo Road. Before Jack realised that Steph's story was true, he was ready to have her dismissed from the school as it wasn't the first time she'd caused problems for him and other teachers.

Haydock then went on to tell Jerry Preston (the highly religious American sponsor) about Shackleton's encounter with Brett. Jerry demanded that she be sacked for he didn't like Steph that much, as did Roger. Rimmer agreed only for a short while until he reinstated Davina and told Jerry and Roger where to go with their money. This has not made Haydock give up on getting rid of her love rival.

She began housing former pupil and homeless drug addict Maxine Barlow.

Series 3

In a BBC press release, it has been confirmed that she is now the head of Pastoral Care, so she has taken over the former head of Pastoral Care, Kim Campbell. However, at the beginning of the second half of the series, she was in France with Tom Clarkson filling in for her. Upon her return, the pair briefly shared an office, before headteacher Rachel Mason informed Haydock that Clarkson would be taking over the job permanently. However she was later made Financial Director. In 3x19 she was removed from the role of Finance Director after using sexual harassment as a means of getting money for the school.

Joe Wills found Steph a difficult character during Series 3 as she wore her hair up in a clip loads which he found boring to look at

Series 4

Steph had to contend with the advances of Security Dave (played by Denise Welch's real-life husband Tim Healy) and was forced to fob him off with the excuse that she and Grantley were having an affair. However, she didn't expect Dave to tell Grantley's wife Fleur of the "affair" when she visited the school as she and Steph were trying to organise a surprise birthday party for Grantley. But despite telling Fleur that there was a misunderstanding between her and Grantley's relationship, Fleur kicked Grantley out of their home for good and he had no choice but to stay at Steph's house although they later reconciled and he was allowed to move back in.

In Episode 8 of the series, Steph drove home to find her ward Maxine dying after she had been tragically and fatally shot by Earl Kelly. Maxine died in the arms of Steph and pupil Janeece Bryant. Steph was distraught after Maxine's body was carried away in a body bag and undoubtedly blames him for her death. Rachel Mason arrived at the house as Maxine's corpse was taken away, and Steph spoke of her belief that Maxine would still be alive if the school hadn't used Earl as a "pet project" for how progressive they were with regards to inclusion in mainstream schools. Her pet hate of Rachel Mason shows through this episode.

In Episode 15, Steph went into hiding with Grace, the adoptive daughter of Kim Campbell, after a member of the Home Office visited Kim's house in search of Grace.

After returning with Grace, Steph returned to work, telling Rachel she had had the mumps, and would come under fire by both students and teachers over her treatment of a student, Tasha, who Steph suspected of hiding something; this was later proven correct as Tasha had not been taking the right amounts of insulin so that she would lose weight. A few weeks later Steph would once again help Kim avoid the immigration when she lied to the police about were Kim had run to.

External links

• Steph Haydock at Waterloo Road