It's the first day of school at Ackley Bridge College, a new school formed following a merger between Stanley Nun High School and St. Jerome Community College. Headmistress Mandy Carter is concerned about the two schools coming together because of the racial divide, though school benefactor Sadiq Nawaz is confident that it will be a success. English teacher Emma Keane shows up late, jetting in from her travels abroad on the first day of term, and it's not long before she bumps into some old faces. Old flame Samir Qureshi is working as community-liaison officer, and her drunken teenage daughter Chloe Voyle gatecrashes her first lesson of the day. Troubled pupil Jordan Wilson claims to be a revert during a class warm-up exercise, causing the first scene of uproar between the two cultures. In the assembly hall, Mandy's PE teacher husband, Steve Bell, watches on in envy at how close she is with Sadiq.

Jordan continues to stir things in the yard, with his actions soon reaching Mandy and Sadiq in the office. Jordan's layabout dad is called in to control him, but it soon becomes apparent to Steve that Mr Wilson has a similar attitude to his son. In a PE lesson, Cory Wilson and Riz Nawaz come head to head when picking football teams. Bestfriends Missy Booth and Nasreen Paracha are elated that they will finally be at the same school together, though Nas's schoolfriends don't take too kindly to the new addition within their friendship group. Chloe explains to Emma that she has travelled in an Uber taxi from her dad's house in London following news that he is expecting a baby with his new girlfriend. As punishment for wasting money and wreaking havoc at the school, Emma confiscates Chloe's phone and tells her to return to Beckenham. Later that night once Emma goes out for drinks with the staff, Chloe steals her mum's phone and shares a topless photo of her on social media.

Missy and her sister Hayley are preparing dinner for their Nana, their legal guardian, only to discover their drunken mother Simone passed out upstairs. They sneak her out the house and next-door to Nas's house where her mother, school canteen assistant Kaneez, prepares her food and orders her to leave. At the pub, the staff express concerns about Sadiq to Steve but he dismisses it. Arriving home from drinks, Emma is unaware that the topless photo has stormed social media and all of the pupils have become aware of it.

The next day, Jordan Wilson has to sit infront of a board of governors to discuss his actions, whilst Emma finds herself in a similar situation being reprimanded in the office by Mandy. Simone shows up at the school humiliating Nasreen and her friends, which disappoints Missy. Tensions rise between Mandy and Steve when Jordan causes more trouble - and Steve punches him. A fight breaks out in the yard between Missy and Nas. Emma vows to be a better mum to Chloe, and allows her to stay in Ackley Bridge despite her dad, Nik, coming all the way from London to collect her. Cory tries it on with Missy - but she only agrees to sleep with him if he sleeps with Nasreen first.

Regular cast

Poppy Lee Friar as Missy Booth

Amy-Leigh Hickman as Nasreen Paracha

Sunetra Sarker as Kaneez Paracha

Nazmeen Kauser as Razia Paracha

Cody Ryan as Hayley Booth

Esa Ashraf as Saleem Paracha

Jo Joyner as Mandy Carter

Samuel Bottomley as Jordan Wilson

Paul Nicholls as Steve Bell

Adil Ray as Sadiq Nawaz

Liz White as Emma Keane

Tom Varey as Will Simpson

Maariah Hussain as Alya Nawaz

Arsher Ali as Samir Qureshi

Lorraine Cheshire as Lorraine Bird

Sam Retford as Cory Wilson

Nohail Mohanmed as Riz Nawaz

Fern Deacon as Chloe Voyle

Anneika Rose as Lila Shariff

Recurring cast

Samantha Power as Simone Booth

Rita May as Julie 'Nana' Booth

Hassan Mahmood as Amin Abad

India Parsan as Tahira Abad

Zain Khan as Zain Younis

Alisha Zaman as Amira Gill

Kainat Butt as Shireen Siddiqui

Abdullah Shahid as Mo Ahktar

Abaz Rashid as Waqar Abdulrahman

Chloe Lumb as Shannon Burns

Nathan Green as Neil Sykes

Matthew Priestley as Jake Earnshaw

Harry Myers as Dan Fairfax

Steve Jackson as Kevin Wilson

Guest cast

Sean Croke as Alex Hamilton

Stuart Manning as Nik Voyle