Gerard Findlay was the headmaster of rival school, Havelock High. He has a very different philosophy to teaching from Michael and they clash instantly. He's the main antagonist of the first part of Series 8.
Plot[]
Havelock vs Waterloo Road[]
When Waterloo Road moves to Scotland, it receives mostly positive reviews from the press, apart from one article stating that the headmaster of Havelock High is discontented. Michael attempts to build bridges with Findlay, so when Grantly's car is graffitied by some local Havelock students, Michael urges him to not contact the police. Findlay later has Grantly's car resprayed to remove the graffiti, telling him that he had identified the vandals, and that the ringleader's father owned a garage.
Findlay finds a newspaper article about Michael's past, saying that he had brought injury to his father. He spreads the articles around the school building and is not stopped when Grantly catches him. He almost succeeds after Lorraine is horrified by the news and Michael's job is put on the line. He plays the story up by making false allegations that Michael had assaulted him too.
Waterloo Road and Havelock High have their first inter-school competition, and Havelock's star pupil Liberty Gordon is expected to win, being a rising athlete. She reveals to Audrey that it was her that gave Havelock the bad review that had appeared in the newspaper that morning, expressing concerns that the headmaster will threaten her chances at university. She begs to get a place at Waterloo Road, but Michael thinks it best that he doesn't take away one of Havelock's most talented pupils, considering the already existing friction between the two schools. Findlay finds out that she was responsible, and threatens her to do well in the competition to make up for it. The pressure to do well causes her to take some of the pills her mother takes for her rheumatoid arthritis, believing that she also has it. She suddenly collapses during the race when it is revealed the amount of pressure Findlay put on her.
An increasingly stressed Findlay later threatens Audrey when she lambasts him for his treatment of Liberty, and then goes after Liberty and attacks her, threatening her to go to the paper and take back what she said, and to stay on at Havelock. When Audrey and Michael walk in on Findlay having Liberty pinned to the wall, Findlay's stress overwhelms him, and he bemoans that he just wanted to get to retirement, and that he would have got there had Waterloo Road not opened nearby, before breaking down in tears.
Michael then calls Findlay a taxi, and Findlay encourages them to give Liberty a place at Waterloo Road before leaving. He is not seen again.
Trivia[]
Findlay was possibly fired or resigned after the events of Series 8 Episode 5, as when Christine Mulgrew goes for a job interview for a head of year job at Havelock in Series 8 Episode 25, she is interviewed by a female headteacher named Yvonne Hegarty.
Quotes[]
- "Ah. I thought it was you lot. The carpetbaggers. Here they are folks, the hoi polloi celebrating destroying your local school! You're Byrne, I take it?" (first line)
- "Watch your back, Byrne. I'm coming after you. I mean it. Watch your back. You've been warned!"
- "The government pays 7 grand per pupil. So that's what, nearly 250 grand that he has robbed outta my till!"
- Findlay: "Oh, I get it, yeah. Yeah, you're a lover, not a fighter. Must take after your mum, then."
- Michael: "Beg your pardon?"
- Findlay: "Couldn't keep her knickers on, according to your dad."
- Findlay: "You know full well you attacked me in the pub."
- Michael: "You fell over into a table!"
- Findlay: "Is that what you told the police when they arrested you for beating your father tae a pulp?!"
- "He's still got a violent streak as wide as the M8."
- "You're trying to settle some old score because I didn't want you teaching at my school. Well I'm warning you, stay out of my face, or I will make your life a living hell!"
- "After all these years of hard work, I just wanted to get to retirement. I deserve a good pension. And if this damn place hadn't come along, I woulda made it, I woulda got there." [breaking down] "I can't do it any more. I've tried. I've tried so hard."
- "Give Liberty a place here. She deserves it." (final line)