Jack Rimmer is a major character in the BBC series Waterloo Road. He was the headmaster at Waterloo Road Comprehensive School from Series 1 to Series 3. He took the job when his predecessor was sectioned as 'mentally unstable'. He had a lax attitude towards the school and initially let the students run their course. Later though, he joined forces with his deputy headmaster and began to restore the school to order. He later returns as a counsellor.
Storylines[]
Series 1[]
After being instated as headmaster, Jack hires Andrew Treneman as deputy headmaster over a drink at the local pub. He is shocked to find Andrew’s crackdown regime and finds it completely out of order. The stress of two police incidents gets him very angry at Andrew but he nonetheless agrees to make a clear announcement to the school banning any assault on members of staff after separating student Donte Charles’ father, Clarence Charles from a fight with Andrew. The following Saturday he attends the wedding of Tom Clarkson and Lorna Dickey, both his employees and dances with an Steph Haydock, also an employee. His high spirits do not last long however as he receives word that the school has been broken into. He leaves the reception early with Andrew to find the hall trashed. He finally begins to consider the crackdown policy but insists on another visit to the pub first.
Jack calls Clarence into his office to discuss the car accident and grudgingly accepts to allow Donte to stay. Jack’s memorial service for deceased pupil, Adam Deardon, is thrown into chaos when his sister, Yasmin Deardon, throws an upset fit. Following the dance at the wedding, Steph asks Jack to go to a restaurant with her and he grudgingly obliges. Jack sees Donte into a police car and excludes Hadley Flynn for carrying a knife. At the restaurant, Jack feels very awkward as Steph flirts with him and tells him her life story. He tells her he is going to the lavatory but in fact heads to the bar. He then goes to the toilet where Steph is flirting with someone she thinks is him. He goes into a cubicle and pulls her inside.
Jack is disapproving of Andrew’s latest idea, a house system, but goes along with it all the same and tells student Lewis Seddon that he will give money to the winning house. When Steph brings student Chlo Grainger to his office, he calls for her mother and his employee, Izzie Redpath. After head of pastoral care, Kim Campbell, has trouble with a new pregnant girl, Zoe Ramsden, he calls the latter into his office and she tells him he is the father of her child, blackmailing him for £10,000. Drinking more and more alcohol and getting stressed, Jack is confronted by Tom who hands in his notice of resignation. Jack soon tells Andrew of the situation with Zoe. He is lost for what to do and tries to convince Andrew he would not touch an underage girl, completely in vain. He then goes to Zoe and tells her he will not pay the money. He tells the staff of the possible incident and his imminent resignation and Steph that he does not want to date her. Jack is just packing up at the end of the day when Andrew meets him in the car park and tells him that Zoe has just given birth and that ex-pupil, Craig Harris is the father. Jack approaches Craig and hits him while Andrew claims he didn’t see the incident (he did.)
Series 2[]
As the new term starts, Jack is facing losing his position as the Head because of Roger Aspinall's arrival. He's finding it difficult to adjust to changes in the school, such as the new sixth form. Roger makes this even more difficult, as he attempts to get him to fire Grantly, as he is Roger's former English teacher who gave him a hard time in his youth. At the same time Jack's new secretary, Davina Shackleton, arrives. She impresses him by organizing his disastrous office. Jack is then shocked to find out that Andrew has been made Acting Head of Waterloo Road, and that he knew about it, thus stabbing Jack in the back.
Andrew's actions as the Acting Head lead to many social problems, such as gang activity, involving the ex-pupil Lewis Seddon. His no-tolerance policy is not working for Waterloo Road, and Roger stood him up, thus he resigns as the Head. He informs Jack about this, when the latter is on a date with Davina, and Jack is confident that he can keep it permanently. He becomes conflicted with Roger's son, Brett.
Soon financial issues begin to set in as Jack and Roger have troubles paying for the new school building. Brett pushes Jack's patience even further when he smashes the model of the building, but he cannot be expelled due to his excellent grades. When Jack realizes Roger will not take his son out, he decides to confront Davina about Roger's source of money, as he provided her to the school. It turns out that Roger cumulated the sums from porn productions. Just moments later he is forced into a fight with Roger, when the latter tries to drag his son out of school by force. In his office, Jack makes it clear to the sponsor that from now on he is the decision maker. While he attends a residential course, Davina is quick to give up to Brett's seduction, however is quickly reminded of why she broke up with him and leaves the teen. When Jack returns, him, Davina, Kim and Andrew go for a dinner. However, Steph calls him to notify him about Maxine Barlow's findings regarding latest rape attacks. Davina is furious with him for attending Steph. She turns to Brett, who has now moved on to Mika.
Jack keeps on falling further in for Davina, eventually asking her to move in with him. She, however, refused as she wants to keep her independence. Thing gets even more rough when Davina tells him she wants to become a teaching assistant. Jack does not like the idea- he wants her all to himself, but with no other good excuse he is forced to give in.
Soon Jack's temper is again put to the test when he finds out that the pupils he has sent to a fashion warehouse for work experience has caused trouble by stealing. The problem is resolved by Steph. However the stress is far from over for Jack, who is now facing the interview for permanent post of the Headmaster. He realizes he does not have Roger's support. On top of that, he is going against Lyndsay Woodham - an extremely determined, all-round-perfect rival for the position. Furthermore, as part of the process, they have to face the pupil board - Brett is participating, hoping to scrap Jack off the pages of Waterloo Road, however Chlo dismisses Lyndsay's smart words and suit, thus balancing out the rivalry. Jack is loosing hope, but just before the final interview Lyndsay realizes she would do no good at school - Jack stops the rampage of a desperate, depressed student, Dale when he attacks the two of them. Jack is quick to act by physically holding him down, as terrified Lyndsay stands by watching, unable to do anything. When it turns out the governors chose Lyndsay as the new Head, she refuses the position, leaving Jack victorious.
Soon Steph is unable to keep what she has found out from Brett's new target, Mika, who has in anger told her about his and Davina's affair. Malcious, Steph goes right off to tell Jack about it. He does not believe her, especially after confronting Davina, who of course denied everything. Jack orders her to write a letter sacking Steph, but her conscience did not let her and she confessed to him about her past fling with Brett. Jack demands then that she packs her stuff and leaves his house. He apologizes to Steph for undermining her report, but cannot sack Davina as she suggests - the affair between her and Brett took place before they came to Waterloo Road and thus there are no grounds to expell them. Davina tries to win Jack back, but he gives her a cold shoulder the whole time. He tries to take his mind off the case by focusing on a healthy eating initiative for the school, but more trouble comes when Lewis Seddon's uncle rides up to the building with his junk food van. He solves the problem by banning pupils from leaving the school grounds during breaks. He soon gives in to Davina 's pleads and decides to have a talk over a drink. Although still hurt, he gives her another chance.
Jack is shocked when Andrew decides to resign after their conflict over Jerry's Creationist propaganda being freely at school, affecting students such as Janeece. Meanwhile, he still fights the burger squad outside of the school gates. Due to Courtney's confession to Kim about where she and Siobhan got the drugs that landed them with serious health problems, he calls the police, but it's not enough, as Jed hides the drugs before they find anything. However Lewis has a change of heart and tells Jack about the location of the Seddon drug lab. Him and Andrew head off to the location, Steph tries once more to destroy Davina by confronting Jerry about Jack and Davina's relationship. When the headmaster arrives back he finds Roger and Jerry marching her off, but he does nothing to save her, afraid for the school's reputation. But very soon he comes to a clear mind that he let the school life destroy his own too much. He reinstates Davina and fires Jerry and Roger. The celebration is destroyed when Jed walks into school, looking for a fight. Jack is ready to give it to him, but realizes Jed is armed with a knife. Unknowing Izzie rushes to Jack's aid, resulting in her death by getting stabbed.
Series 3[]
Jack starts off the term by luring in a group of talented pupils in order to improve the exam results with money. He gets Eddie to see that gifted & talented students are placed in top sets for every subject. He covers the money laundering up with a 'one-parent family' scheme from an already busted school budget. Despite this he gives Karla Bentham, an Asperger's Syndrome affected student, a place at Waterloo Road, after some pressure from her mother about equality. He realized that she has been excluded from three previous schools, but with Steph in charge of Pastoral Care (as Kim left with Andrew) he gives her a shot. It takes only a few hours until trouble sets in, when Steph has no idea how to handle Karla, Grantly's temper towards the troubled girl snaps and "gifted and talented" students Aleesha and Danielle phone their parents when she has a violent outburst in class. Jack is bombarded with enquiries from teachers who refuse to have her in their class without appropriate support- which he cannot afford as he spent his money on "gifted and talented" students. However, when Jack realizes that Davina has a language with Karla and knows how to care for her special needs, he promotes her into a full-time aid from teaching assistance.
Davina eventually persuades Jack to go into therapy, where it becomes clear that he's still suffering from the effects of Izzie's death- with PTSD. As she sets off from a two-day training away from town, Jack's frustration takes over. He asks broken Steph, who was turned down by the new teacher, Matt (who was gay), for a drink. Soon things get out of control when Jack has a bit too much to drink and ends up spending a wild night with Steph Haydock. The next morning however, he again gives her the cold shoulder and attempts to make it clear that it was just for fun and there will be no repeat. Feeling guilty about the fling, he decides to propose to Davina. They make the announcement about their engagement in the staffroom, to the dismay of Steph. She heads straight for Jack's office and orders him to confess his affair to Davina, but he cannot out of fear. However it doesn't take long, and soon Davina is informed about what happened with Steph. She hands the ring back to Jack and breaks off the relationship.
His financial "gifted & talented" scam hits him back in the face when Bolton Smilie gets into trouble for graffiti on the school's wall. Furious Jack tells Bolton's mother, Candice Smilie, who works in the school canteen, to transfer him to another school. She goes to complain to Eddie, where she tells him that she didn't qualify for the £2000 bursary for single parents, but now will also have to transfer school. Confused Eddie questions Jack about the bursary, only to find out about the scam. He refuses to put up with Jack's methods and their argument spills to the corridor, where they get overheard by Steph, Janeece and Maxine.
A member of Schools Governing Body, Ria Cheetham arrives to solve the finance mystery. Jack confesses, but Eddie attempts to save him by persuading Ria to interview the Gifted & Talented students. The kids show full support for Jack, stating that they are happy at the school. However, this does not stop her from calling an emergency SGB meeting, which ends in Jack being suspended. He, however, refuses and resigns completely instead, being replaced by Rachel Mason.
Season 15[]
Jack returns to Waterloo Road as a school counsellor.
Trivia[]
- To be added.
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