Characters of Ackley Bridge

[1] Series one features the debuts of friends Missy Booth (Poppy Lee Friar) and Nasreen Paracha (Amy-Leigh Hickman), headteacher Mandy Carter (Jo Joyner) and her husband Steve Bell (Paul Nicholls), school cook Kaneez Paracha (Sunetra Sarker), English teacher Emma Keane (Liz White) and her daughter Chloe Voyle (Fern Deacon), school sponsor Sadiq Nawaz (Adil Ray) and his children Alya (Maariah Hussain) and Riz (Nohail Mohammed), brothers Jordan (Samuel Bottomley) and Cory Wilson (Sam Retford), school receptionist Lorraine Bird (Lorraine Cheshire), science teacher Lila Shariff (Anneika Rose), head of pastoral care Samir Qureshi (Arsher Ali), PE teacher Will Simpson (Tom Varey), Missy's mother Simone (Samantha Power) and grandmother Julie 'Nana' Booth (Rita May) and students Hayley Booth (Cody Ryan), Razia (Nazmeen Kauser) and Saleem Paracha (Esa Ashraf), Candice Murgatroyd (Emily Pyzer) and Naveed Haider (Gurjeet Singh).

Series two sees the introduction of science teacher Rashid Hyatt (Tony Jayawardena), Nasreen's half-brother Aaron Turner (Adam Fielding), deputy headteacher Javid Shah (Jay Saighal) and student Sam Murgatroyd (Megan Parkinson).

Series three features the arrivals of Valley Trust transfer teachers Martin Evershed (Rob James-Collier) and Sue Carp (Charlie Hardwick), temporary headteacher Sian Oakes (Ty Glaser), PE teacher Hassan Hussein (Hareet Deol) and students Pawel Nowicki (Szymon Kantor), Rukhsana Ibrahim (Phoebe Tuffs-Berry), Younis Iqbal (Abdul Ahadbutt) and Kacey 'Spud' Gartside (Zara Salim).

The fourth series saw a cast overhaul, with the arrivals of Kayla Azfal (Robyn Cara) and her half-sister Marina (Carla Woodcock), Kayla's best friend Fizza Akhtar (Yasmin Al-Khudhairi), travellers Johnny (Ryan Dean) and Queenie Cooper (Jasmine Payne) and Rose Boswell (Olivia Marie Fearn), Kaneez's nephew Tahir Randhawa (Shobit Piasa) and Rashid's mother Zainab (Leena Dhingra).

In an interview with Channel 4, actress Friar described Missy as a "survivor", and the "glue of her family", however, noted that "she's also got a rebellious side, she can be quite tough and opinionated which can get her into trouble as her emotions can often present themselves in funny ways and bubble over.

[6] Becky Freeth of Metro described the scenes as a "gut-wrenching plot twist" that "caught many off-guard", and noted that viewers expected Missy to survive the car accident.

[7] Nasreen Paracha (portrayed by Amy-Leigh Hickman) is the older sister of Razia (Nazmeen Kauser) and Saleem (Esa Ashraf/Yaseen Khan), and the daughter of Kaneez (Sunetra Sarker) and Iqbal (Narinda Samra).

Nasreen is informed by headteacher Mandy Carter (Jo Joyner) that she will be accepted into Oxford if she achieves the necessary grades, but in haste, she quits school and decides to work at a tea towel factory.

Hickman missed the physical training requires for Our Girl in order to finish her tenure on Ackley Bridge, commenting: "I was on the phone a lot to the military advisor, and he was letting me know what everyone was doing every day".

[17] Kaneez Paracha (portrayed by Sunetra Sarker) is the mother of Nasreen (Amy-Leigh Hickman), Razia (Nazmeen Kauser) and Saleem (Esa Ashraf/Yaseen Khan), and the separated wife of Iqbal (Narinda Samra).

[22] Dan Seddon of Digital Spy wrote that her scenes have "comic ingenuity", that himself and viewers are "blown away by Kaneez's knee-slapping antics", and joked that a statue of her should be placed at the fictional school.

[23] Razia Paracha (portrayed by Nazmeen Kauser) is the sister of Nasreen (Amy-Leigh Hickman) and Saleem (Esa Ashraf/Yaseen Khan), and the daughter of Kaneez (Sunetra Sarker) and Iqbal (Narinda Samra).

He begins delivering drugs to fund his lifestyle, and when pastoral care teacher Samir Qureshi (Arsher Ali) discovers what he is doing, he shows Jordan that boxing can be a better source of entertainment for him.

[28] Jordan's abuse storyline was described by Radio Times as "heartbreaking", who noted that while viewers were "shocked by the horrific story", they were "impressed by the incredible acting and writing" from Bottomley and Retford.

Alya Nawaz (portrayed by Maariah Hussain) is the twin sister of Riz (Nohail Mohammed), and the daughter of Sadiq (Adil Ray) and Farida (Anu Hasan).

Riz begins a relationship with Hayley Booth (Cody Ryan), but after he boasts about sexual acts she performed on him, her sister Missy (Poppy Lee Friar) brands him a sex offender.

He explains that Martin does not care about following rules or procedures, and will do "unorthodox things like play classical music full blast with the blinds down and lights off to get the kids dancing".

On his arrival at the school, James-Collier explained that Mandy has been "promised these two teachers, who are really good apparently", but when she finds Martin "locking parents in classrooms", she begins to wonder "what have the Trust landed me with here?".

Children are being divided and taught and interacted with separately due to culture, race and class – but what I see at Ackley is young performers from all walks of life coming together to create art".

[55] She described Sue as "belligerent and unwilling", noting that "instead of dedicating her time to the well-being and development of her teenage students, she appears to be solely concerned with counting down the next ten years to her retirement".

[53] Duncan Lindsay of Metro wrote: "the jaws of Ackley Bridge viewers often drop when the racist assertions and statements come out of the member of staff's mouth".

She also noted that in the final episode of series three, viewers "might just see an element of goodness in there", but she admitted that "a leopard rarely changes its spots" and that it would be a "long journey to ever be able to show her in a positive light".

After Sue Carp (Charlie Hardwick) pronounces the name of a Polish food dish wrong, and the Pakistani students are outraged as it sounds like a racial slur.

Ken Weaver (George Potts) brings her in as Mandy Carter's (Jo Joyner) replacement, despite there being an appointed deputy head, Martin Evershed (Rob James-Collier).

Kyle Dobson (portrayed by Adam Little) is the younger brother of Marina (Megan Morgan) who joins Ackley Bridge College shortly after being released from a youth detention centre.

[57] Digital Spy's Sophie Dainty explained that Martin feels pressure and scrutiny as headteacher of the school and that Asma makes his situation worse when she "arrives to stir things up".

Missy, Hayley, Nasreen and their teacher Emma Keane (Liz White) stand outside of the crematorium and sing her favourite song, "Bat Out of Hell" by Meat Loaf.

Iqbal Paracha (portrayed by Narinder Samra)[60] is the husband of Kaneez (Sunetra Sarker), and the father of Nasreen (Amy-Leigh Hickman), Razia (Nazmeen Kauser) and Saleem (Esa Ashraf/Yaseen Khan).

[66] After her first episode of Ackley Bridge aired, Digital Spy wrote that her appearance had "definitely surprised viewers", since they knew her from her role as Janice Battersby in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

Ken Weaver (portrayed by George Potts) is a teacher from the Valley Trust, who becomes the boss of headteacher Mandy Carter (Jo Joyner) at Ackley Bridge College.