About Chlo Charles

Chlo has grown up a lot since we last saw her and is now happily married to Donte, and is the mum of two kids, Izzy and Tommy. The early years with the kids were hard, especially while Chlo was still studying, but they’re on their feet now and as a family they’re excited about Izzy starting her new secondary school. Chlo now aims to improve the lives of kids and parents at school with a new idea, but she will find it difficult to get her voice heard amongst all the chaos.

Katie Griffiths Q&A

What does it feel like to come back to Waterloo Road?

It's been wonderful. It feels like coming back but also everything is different. The set’s different. The classes are brand new, there’s a really exciting cast and some returning faces.  So it's been a bit of everything but it’s been lovely. 

What was it like re-uniting with Adam Thomas after all these years?

It was quite emotional actually, because we hadn’t seen each other in a while and lots of things had happened in our lives and we knew each other at totally different points of our life back then. And it was just so lovely.

They actually managed to keep us apart on the day and we were in two different dressing rooms. I thought we were just going to kind of bump into each other in the corridor and just be like, hi, you know, but for some reason, we hadn't seen each other that day. It was quite weird and then we just walked into this room together, and Angela was there. I think a member of the crew from years ago was crying and then I thought, oh my gosh. It was a lot more impactful than I thought it would have been, but it was lovely. It was so nice to see them after all these years.

 What can you tell us about Chlo and her family unit? Has she changed much since her wayward days?

Chlo has grown up a lot. I think you meet her at a time where she is very much coming to her matriarchal role in the family. She is very protective of her family. She loves her husband to within an inch of his life, and she's very protective of her children. And I think she’s still got that fierce determination that she always had. She's got a lot of personality. She's a big personality, but I think she's kind of trying to find humour and she's very focused and dedicated and always wants to better herself for her family.

 What is Chlo’s connection to the school now?

She is very excited that her daughter is going to be attending the school. It's her first day, and that's when we meet the characters again. There’s a little bit of apprehension, but above all, I think, just huge excitement that she's going to be going to school. I think it's a very emotional day.  

She's also at a point of sorts, trying to figure out what she really wants to do with her career. She's at a bit of a crossroads. She's been studying a lot and raising a family, so it feels like this is a time where she's sort of really thinking about where she wants to put her skills to next, and I think she's quite a compassionate person. So I think when she comes back to the school, there's this sort of feeling of, well, maybe I can be part of this and maybe I can help others and help the kids in the school, which is exciting.

What was it like to work with Adam again, and this time with Scarlett and Tommy too?

It's been amazing to work with Adam again. There's never a dull moment. He is such a nice, friendly guy who is full of energy, brilliant when you're on set and when you're working, especially when you're trying to do those family scenes. They are a very, very close family. As he is in real life with Teddy and Scarlett, I think just that chemistry that they have together was a fantastic thing to shoot and Scarlett and Teddy are just phenomenally talented, which everyone will see and love. I think everyone's going to be blown away by them.

Did you enjoy your school days/were you a good student?

I think I'm sort of in the middle. I think I would pick and choose back then, for example if it was theatre studies or drama or anything creative, I always made sure I had done my homework. I don't think I was quite a teacher's pet, but when it was a subject I enjoyed then I would be a lot more invested. And then if it was maths or science, where my brain just does not compute, I would let that slide and I think I was a little bit more disruptive. So I think it was a little bit of both - definitely not an angel, but not a monster.

There are so many dedicated fans of the series, what can you tell them about the new series?

Waterloo Road has never been scared of tackling all the big issues and struggles that many people out there are experiencing day in and day out. It's never been afraid to address those issues and it continues to do that in the new series. There's going to be some real highs and real lows. Lots of friendships and fun along the way, and some great new characters, as well as some old faces.

Do you feel like you’ve grown up with Chlo?

I think so. She's just been a massive part of my life. She was the first professional job I had and the first character that I played and I was so young at the time, so I do feel like I've grown up with her, and then I think I didn't really realise during lockdown how many people had watched the show again, and how it found this new audience. I had people coming up to me in the street saying, Are you Chlo?! and I thought you weren't even born when it was first on TV! So I think so, she's always kind of been there.  

Do you have any standout moments from set that you can share with us?

I think just every day on set with Adam Thomas is a stand out moment, just cracking jokes and sort of side-splitting funny so yeah, pretty much all the time.