Comedians Jo Coffey and Neil Fitzmaurice have joined the cast of BBC One school drama Waterloo Road.

Coffey will play Wendy Whitwell, PA to Angela Griffin’s headteacher Kim Campbell when the show returns later this year.

She said she was ‘so excited to be joining the cast’ in her first major acting role, having appeared in two episodes of EastEnders last year.

Meanwhile, Fitzmaurice has been cast as Neil Guthrie, the school’s history teacher.

He previously appeared in a 2011 as a different character, Dave Dowling, a parent with xenophobic and racist views.

His many comedy credits include appearing as Ray Von in  Phoenix Nights, which he co-wrote with Peter Kay and Dave Spikey, and playing  Jeff, the love rival of David Mitchell’s Mark Corrigan in Peep Show. 

The casting  has been revealed today as filming on the new series – the first in seven years – begins in Greater Manchester.

Kym Marsh is joining as Nicky Walters, a mother to two pupils and school canteen worker, with James Baxter (from Still Open All Hours, Alma’s Not Normal) and Vincent Jerome  playing the two deputy heads.

Other new cast members are Sonia Ibrahim  as Jamilah Omar, the school’s social worker; Shauna Shim as music teacher Valerie Chambers; Rachel Leskovac  as head of English Coral Walker and Katherine Pearce  as Amy Spratt,  an early careers teacher.

Executive producer Cameron Roach said: ‘We’re incredibly excited to announce our new cast, and we believe that alongside the return of Kim Campbell we’re creating some new iconic characters for the next generation of Waterloo Road. We look forward to the audience joining them in the staff room.’