BBC Waterloo Road Wiki
Advertisement

Dale Jackson used to be a drug addict until he took up cycling. He joined Waterloo Road as a cyclist training for a race, too distracted to get anything done at school and constantly getting into trouble. Highlights include locking a science teacher in a store cupboard and stealing Maggie Budgen's car with Lenny Brown after Lenny finds him smoking drugs.

Series 10[]

Dale joins Waterloo Road in Series 10 Episode 11 not getting on with the other residents of the schoolhouse, notably Lenny Brown and Darren Hughes. His presence also causes an argument between Darren and his girlfriend Rhiannon Salt after she makes a comment about Dale's physical attractiveness, specifically his "peachy bum".

2149009 orig

Left to Right. Scott, Kevin, Dale

In Episode 12, Scott Fairchild starts picking on Dale, nicking his bike and 'busting' it, to the disgust of Kevin Chalk. Kevin later repairs the bike, although later on in the episode, to wind up Kevin, Scott steals it, leading to Kevin chasing him on another bike and ultimately falling off it and hitting his head.

Dale makes a friend out of Lenny Brown in Episode 13, who agrees to be his training partner. Lenny notices Dale is consistently eating less and less, missing meals to try to reach his target for the cycling team.

6503537 orig

In Episode 16, on the day of his trial, Dale walks out of his mock exam, provoking Marco D'Olivera to pursue him, something that later gained Marco scrutiny from Lorna Hutchinson. Maggie Budgen, the housemistress of the schoolhouse, later finds laxative tablets, a set of scales and a notepad tracking weight loss in Dale's room, and after confronting Lenny on his way to school she finds out from him that Dale isn't eating and when he does he makes himself sick. She and Lenny then go to Dale's trial, but let him continue upon seeing how enthusiastic he is. Dale smashes the trial, but collapses at the finish line, causing Maggie to tell the officiators about the anorexia, which loses Dale his place on the team. Dale is heartbroken and is told he cannot cycle until he conquers his eating disorder.

Episode 17 sees Dale lose control of his life, blaming Maggie for his failure. Dale goes on a warpath, locking Marco in a cupboard and stealing Maggie's car to go joyriding.

At the start of Episode 18, we see that Dale has stolen Maggie's car a second time, this time crashing it, though escaping unharmed. In this episode, His friendship with Lenny Brown reaches breaking point when Lenny finds him in bed with Lenny's twin sister Lisa. Dale later smokes weed at school and ends up on the school roof. Lenny discovers from Lisa that she wanted to use Dale for sex but couldn't because he was impotent as a result of his eating disorder, and then finds Dale on the roof, where he talks some sense into him. Dale agrees to improve his life by starting eating, and he leaves to go somewhere as part of his therapy.

In Series 10 Episode 20, Dale returns among the students who give speeches to parents and council members talking about how Waterloo Road has helped them, and urging the cancellation of the merger. Dale is not seen again.

Behind the scenes[]

  • Dale's actor, Finlay MacMillan, also appears briefly in Series 8 Episode 26 as an unnamed pupil.

Quotes[]

  • "Yeah. Bit of a dump, isn't it?" (first line)

  • Dale: "You bust my bike!"
  • Scott: "You've bust my arm!"

  • Lenny: "Scott Fairchild is well toxic."
  • Dale: "Yeah. Listen, thanks for that. I'da decked him."

  • "Lenny, if I don't train, I won't be ready for the trial."

  • "Are you kidding? He talks about this girl every single day. He fancies the pants off her." (about Lenny and Carrie)

  • Dale: "Look, talking's really not my thing-"
  • Maggie: "You need to make it your thing. All the stage win interviews on the Tour de France?"

  • "Yeah. S'all I done for a few years. Drink...and drugs. I'd done it all by the time I was 14. And I woulda carried it on if it wasn't for cycling. You know, I had the choice, was this, or that."

  • "What? I'll see what? That I'll be in the 2016 Olympics, is that what I'll see? No? What then? Oh, yeah, nothing. I'll do nothing, I'll sit around all day talking to people about nothing!"

  • "You're not too keen on small spaces, are you, Sir?" (to Marco after locking him in a cupboard)

  • Lenny: "You nicked them?"
  • Dale: "No, no, she asked me to pop round to the supermarket - of course I nicked them, what do you think?!"

  • Dale: "Only...Lenny's probably the only real friend I've ever had. It sounds kinda lame, but...it's like, when I failed to make the cycle team, he was feeling just as bad as I was."
  • Lisa: "How are you now?"
  • Dale: "Numb."

  • Dale: "Nah, nah nah, look, Lisa's not that innocent, OK? She knew exactly what she was doing."
  • Lenny: "You watch your mouth!"
  • Dale: "You want to play? Well go on then! I'll give you a free shot! Give me your best shot!"
  • Lenny: "Don't be so pathetic."
  • Dale: "Pathetic?! You're the one mouthing off! And now you're the one backing down! If I'm pathetic, WHAT DOES THAT MAKE YOU?! HUH?!"

  • "What, you think I'm gonnae kill myself? No. I'm just trying to...feel something." (while standing on the edge of the roof)

  • "I took a few wrong turns as well. Did some pretty stupid things. But, they didn't turn their back. They got me help. And now, things are much, much better." (final line)
Advertisement