About Lindon King

Ambitious and driven, Lindon is joint Deputy Head with Joe Casey and as Head of Behaviour, shares responsibility for the new Behavioural Unit with Joe Casey. He’s also Head of Science and coaches the Waterloo Warriors school basketball team. Lindon’s eldest daughter, Verity, starts secondary school this autumn. Lindon and Hannah have debated the options at length; Hannah feels that she’d like Verity privately educated but Lindon thinks she’ll flourish best where he can see her – at Waterloo Road. Lindon admires and respects Kim, but with one eye on her job, he’d be fooling himself if he thought they were ever going to be best buddies. She knows what he’s about.

Vincent Jerome Q&A

How do you feel being part of the new series?

It's great. It's very exciting to be part of a show that has such a great legacy and such a loyal fan base. I can't wait to for people to see it.

Can you tell us a bit about Lindon and what we can expect to see from him?

Lindon King is a very driven, career focused, ambitious guy. He's kind of old school in his ways and no nonsense. He’s very direct and he knows what he wants. He always strives for excellence.

Can you tell us about Lindon’s style of teaching?

As I said, he’s kind of old school. He's very much about discipline, striving for excellence and wanting to get the best out of the students. Sometimes, because he is so direct, it doesn't always sit well with the students, and some of the teachers but he does it because he cares. So you'll see a lot of tough love from Lindon.

How does he get along with the other teachers?

Some of the teachers have different methods. Some have more of a pastoral background, whereas he is very much about discipline. So there are some clashes but Lindon respects all the teachers. He believes that they are all highly qualified and highly skilled. He wouldn't bring his daughter to the school if he didn't. There is definitely respect, even if there are differences.

What does Lindon think of Kim as the headteacher?

At first Lindon doubts her ability, because ultimately he thinks he should have got the job, and again, because Kim comes from a pastoral background, he thinks she's a little bit of a soft touch and when a school has a reputation like this one does, he feels it needs a bit more of a firmer hand. But again, Lindon is professional so there is still a level of respect.

 How different do you think this series is compared to the previous one?

I would say that this series has a lot of the same things as the old series, like the fun, energy, excitement and telling of real world stories. I would say that this series has even more representation, we see a wide variety of ethnicities, people with different abilities and gender identities and sexual preference, which is massively important.

What kind of pupil were you at school?

(Laughs) I wasn't the class clown but I was definitely a loud mouth and definitely a bit of a hothead. So yeah, I’d mess around too much.

What do you hope audiences will take away from the new series?

My biggest hope beyond them being entertained and being moved is, regardless of who is watching, and how they identify, I hope that there is a character in the show that every single audience member can be like, “okay, that represents me!” regardless of how they look. I just hope that there is a level of representation for everybody watching the show.