Fans can expect to see Denise back in character and in the classrooms of the smash show
Loose Women panellist Denise Welch is set for a huge return to Waterloo Road. The 66-year-old actress appeared on the hit BBC series from 2006 to 2010 playing French teacher Steph Haydock.
The series was pulled off the air in 2015 after the conclusion of the 10th season of the show before it was then revived in 2023.
The creators of the show are preparing to make the 15th season of the show after the 2024 season reached a climax last month. And, its reported that fans can expect to see Denise back in character and in the classrooms of the smash show, reports the Mirror.
Denise - who only appeared in the first six seasons of Waterloo Road during its original run - has acted in other soaps in the past. She played Natalie Barnes in Coronation Street from 1997 to 2000 and she has previously explained that she considers herself something of a pioneer in the performing arts as she's been able to work both as an actress and a lunchtime talk show star.
Of her return to Waterloo Road, a source told The Sun: “Waterloo Road fans love a comeback, particularly when it is someone of Denise’s calibre. The character is certainly one which will live long in the memory of devotees, and it’s an absolute no brainer to have her return."
Denise previously told OX Magazine that she hated that people wouldn't take her seriously as an actress because her career as a Loose Women star had overshadowed her acting.
She said: “It's very difficult in this country to be taken seriously in more than one genre; I've tried to cross those boundaries over. I remember Eammon Holmes saying, 'I can't think of another person that's doing an acting job and a presenting job on telly at the same time.' That stuck with me, I felt there was a little breakthrough there.”
Denise has been a panellist on Loose Women for decades - but previously admitted she will quit the minute she finds the show too stressful to deal with. She told Bella magazine last year: "In the 21 years I've done this show, I have never, ever. ever had an actual argument with anybody on that show. I can go hammer and tongs with them on set, but nothing afterwards, if it was a toxic environment, I wouldn't work there. I don't need to.
"I'm 65, I don't need the stress.... I'd be out like a shot if I felt anxiety about going into a job."
