About Noel McManus

Big daft Noel is Dean Weaver’s best mate and lives just down the road from him on the estate. Often finding himself in the same trouble as Dean (and always caused by Dean), Noel is more likely to swerve serious consequences due to his cheeky charm and boundless good humour.

Liam Scholes Q&A

Welcome to Waterloo Road! How excited are you to be part of the new series?

I’m very excited. Very happy.

Can you tell us about your character Noel and what audiences can expect to see from him?

Anyone who messed about in school or anyone that enjoys causing a little bit of chaos will relate to Noel. It’s pretty much the kid I never was in school but there is an element of me in him.

How do you think Waterloo Road reflects 2023 life at school?

I think especially with all the characters, a lot of different people are represented. There are also issues happening in the real world that are shown in the show that people can relate to.

Do you have any fun stories from filming you can share with us?

There's definitely loads with Francesco who plays Dean. We might be best mates in the show, but we do get on really well. When me and him are together, it's always chaos. It tends to involve a guitar or making songs about any certain individual that's around us at the time.

What was your own experience of school like?

Yeah, chaos (laughs) I’m half joking. It was good. I was always a good boy, so I got good grades but my teachers would probably say that I was a good boy. I was a little guy but now I’m the big guy. It was quite fun.