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Mrs Doubleday is an Ofsted inspector who arrived for a shock inspection of Waterloo Road High School alongside fellow inspector Harry Cribbins in Series 12 Episode 5.

Doubleday takes a far stricter and more no-nonsense approach to her inspection of the school than the lazy and laid-back Cribbins does. When Joe Casey offers her and Cribbins a coffee while they wait for the arrival of Lindon King, she declines, saying that they need to get on with the inspection straight away, and when Joe tries to offer her an itinerary drawn up by Wendy Whitwell, Doubleday declines that too, saying that she prefers to go off-plan.

Doubleday is impressed by Myles Massey's recitation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and later commends him on it in the playground, before her no-nonsense façade briefly slips and she has to suppress a smile when Joe rips his trousers kicking a football to his foster son Zayne.

She later witnesses Joe breaking down and snapping at a canteen full of students after he finds out that his foster sons want to go back to live with their mother, and the students bully him for his bright yellow trousers borrowed from Nicky Walters to replace his ripped ones. Kelly Jo Rafferty and Shola Aku explain to Mrs Doubleday that Joe's outburst was out-of-character, and Joe later apologises profusely to her.

In the end, she and Cribbins give the school some positive notes, albeit alongside a long list of recommendations.

Behind the scenes[]

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