Rob Cleaver

This article's content is marked as Mature
The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, strong drug use, extremely traumatic themes, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older.

If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page.
Note: Content classification services hold no influence over the template's criteria and usage. Only the content itself matters.

Rob Cleaver is a major antagonist in Series 4 of the school-based drama Waterloo Road, who appears as the show’s secondary antagonist from Episode 1 until Episode 8, before becoming the main antagonist between Episodes 9 and 10.

He is portrayed by Elyes Gabel.

Biography[]

Rob Cleaver arrives at Waterloo Road as a flashy, handsome, new PE teacher, with a background in athletics. He’s good he knows it. With all the school’s female students, as well as English teacher Jasmine Koreshi swooning over him, Rob settles in nicely at the school. Rob is generally friendly, hardworking, and he always tries to get the best out of his students. However, he takes his subject very seriously, ensuring that all of his lessons are intense and that the pupils are put through their paces.

Rob forms friendships with the previously mentioned Jasmine and newly appointed Head of English, Tom Clarkson. The three bond over their love of football. Rob also makes a good impression on Rachel Mason and Eddie Lawson, who are head teacher and deputy head respectively, when he helps Tom and Eddie escort the troublesome Reynold Kelly off the school premises, after Reynold is caught attacking teacher Matt Wilding.

With the support of Eddie, Rob is given the green light to start up a boxing club at the school. During the first session, Eddie asks Rob to keep a close eye on Earl Kelly, a very aggressive boy who Eddie suggested go to the boxing club as a healthier way to expend that his consistently pent up energy. Earl soon stops attending however, due to a mini practice fight he has with fellow student Bolton Smilie, during which he gets too violent with Bolton. Rob notices Bolton’s potential as a boxer and offers to give him one to one coaching, which Bolton accepts.

Rob and Bolton develop a strong bond and a good working relationship, which leads to Rob confiding in Bolton that the reason he’s so intense during his lessons is because he used to be a professional hurdler. It transpires that he did this for many years, running in many athletics tournaments, until an injury meant he had to retire from professional competitions. He uses this to motivate Bolton to be the athlete that he is no longer able to be.

Weeks go by and Rob manages to book Bolton a boxing match. In the days leading up to the fight, Rob’s training becomes more and more intense. When Bolton doesn’t show up to an English lesson, his teacher, Davina Shackleton looks out of her classroom window to see Rob and Bolton training on the field. She sees Bolton collapse, only for Rob to kick him while he’s on the ground. Concerned for Bolton’s welfare, Davina approaches Jasmine, who is now in a relationship with Rob, and tells her what she saw outside. Jasmine doesn’t believe her and starts to shout at her for making such an accusation against Rob. The pair then fall out as a result. The next morning, Rob confronts Davina in the staff room about her accusation, and accuses her of being jealous of Jasmine. Tom then steps in and, being Davina’s partner, gets into a scuffle with Rob. The pair are quickly broken up however, as Eddie walks in with a school inspector.

The day of the fight soon comes around and the students and teachers go to show their support for Bolton. In the changing rooms, Bolton admits his anxiety about the fight to Rob, who assures him he’ll be great. He even uses the death of the recently deceased Maxine Barlow, a popular girl at the school, as leverage to get Bolton not to back out of the fight. As if this isn’t enough, he then proceeds to give Bolton what he calls “special pills” to enhance his performance, telling Bolton he used to take them all the time whenever he got nervous before a race. Bolton then takes one, and is caught by his girlfriend Janeece Bryant. He tells her to go back to her seat in the crowd, and that the tablet is just a precaution. Moments later, the fight begins.

During the first round of the fight, Janeece tells Davina about the pills that Rob has given Bolton. Davina then takes this information to Jasmine, who responds by just getting more annoyed at her. Jasmine has a change of heart at the end of the first round however, deciding to confront Rob about the pills. But Rob just denies giving Bolton anything, and the pair go back out for the start of the second round, although Jasmine remains wary. The fight ends during the second round after Bolton knocks his opponent Mulvey out. The crowd erupts for Bolton. However, the referee suspects that something is up, as Bolton’s performance during the first round was fairly poor, but now he’s come out for the second round and more or less knocked Mulvey out straight away. The ringside doctor performs a quick test on Bolton, and it indeed tells the doctor that there are steroid is Bolton’s system, so Bolton gets disqualified. This infuriates Rob, who screams at the ref that they can’t take his victory away from him. A stunned Jasmine reminds Rob that this was in fact Bolton’s victory, and not his.

When everyone returns to the school. Rachel approaches Rob and tells him to wait in her office, and to make sure he has his bags with him. In her office, she suspends Rob indefinitely for supplying a pupil with steroids. An ashamed Rob leaves the office willingly, right before bumping into Jasmine in the corridor. He tells her that he’s sorry for everything and that he loves her. She replies that she did love him, but there’s no way back for them now. Rob goes to get in his car but just as he does he spots Bolton. He apologises to Bolton and tells him that he has an excellent future ahead of him and to keep up the good work. Rob then drives away and isn’t seen or heard from again.

Trivia[]

Rob appeared in 10 episodes during his time in the show.
He is the third antagonist to appear in the opening titles, with Jack Rimmer and Grantly Budgen being the first and second respectively.

Rob Cleaver

Biography[]

Trivia[]

Navigation[]