The Dumping Ground series 3

The third series of the British children's television series The Dumping Ground began broadcasting on 16 January 2015 on CBBC and ended on 8 December 2015. The series follows the lives of the children living in the fictional children's care home of Ashdene Ridge, nicknamed by them "The Dumping Ground". It consists of twenty, thirty-minute episodes, airing in two halves in January and October 2015. It is the eleventh series in The Story of Tracy Beaker franchise.

Cast
All of the cast from the show's second series returned, with the exceptions of Daniel Pearson, who played Rick Barber, left in the series 2 finale. Leanne Dunstan, who played Faith Davis, also left the series, but returned for respite care. Chris Slater reprised his role as Frank Matthews in episode 20 "Refuge" for a guest appearance.

Main
• Connor Byrne as Mike Milligan

• Amy-Leigh Hickman as Carmen Howle

• Phillip Graham Scott as Harry Jones

• Mia McKenna-Bruce as Tee Taylor

• Joe Maw as Johnny Taylor (episodes 1-10 only)

• Miles Butler-Hughton as Tyler Lewis

• Kia Pegg as Jody Jackson

• Sarah Rayson as Floss Guppy

• Reece Buttery as Mo Michaels

• Stacy Liu as May-Li Wang

• Kasey McKellar as Bailey Wharton

• Akuc Bol as Kazima Tako

• Lewis Hamilton as Ryan Reeves (from episode 2)

• Nelly Currant as Toni Trent (from episode 3)

• Gwen Currant as Billie Trent (from episode 3)

• Sage as Mischief (from episode 4)

• Ruben Reuter as Finn McLaine (from episode 9)

• Annabelle Davis as Sasha Bellman (from episode 11)

Guest
• Amer Nazir as Police Officer

• Charlie Brooks as Stephanie Brantson

• Stuart Manning as Matt Brantson

• Grant Burgin as Mr. Gordon

• Tonya French as Mrs. Gordon

• Martina Laird as Mrs. Underwood

• Kiki Brooks-Truman as Maude Gordon

• Diveen Henry as Sally Lewis

• Dai Bradley as Mal

• Avin Shah as Clive

• Simeon Zack as Roscoe Hayden

• Christopher Connel as Security Guard

• Sarah Lewis Obuba as Police Officer

• Geff Francis as Dave

• Ray Emmet Brown as Adam Aycliffe

• Indra Ove as Sylvie

• Dallas Campbell as Himself

• Natifa Mai as Maz

• Frankie Wilson as Max

• Isabelle Burrows-Brown as Claire Aycliffe

• Sally Rogers as Lucy Taylor

• Holly & Paige Robinson as Hope Taylor

• Neil Morrissey as Keith Taylor

• Alexander Aze as Dexter Bellman

• Thomas and Oliver Waldram as Murphy Bellman

• Sandy Foster as Kelly Bellman

• Shameem Ahmed as H&S Inspector

• Angela Murray as Trampoline Assessor

• Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Abi

• Leanne Dunstan as Faith Davis

• Quinton Nyirenda as Laces

• Simon Rouse as David Michaels

• Donna Lavin as Caroline Michaels

• Colin Young as Peter Michaels

• Imogen Faires as Chanelle

• Ashley Artus as Andy

• Sam Cassidy as Plumber/Fireman

• Pik-Sen Lim as PoPo

• Dolya Gavanski as Jasna

• Nisha Joshi as Herself

• Christopher Slater as Frank Matthews

• Richard Pepple as Hakim Tako

Casting
Casting calls confirmed that there would feature 7 new characters, including; twins Toni and Billie, played by Nelly and Gwen Currant; dog Mischief, which CBBC ran a competition for viewers to name it and is played by Sage; a disabled character called Finn, as well as Sasha, Dexter and Ryan, played by Ruben Reuter, Annabelle Davis, Alexander Aze and Lewis Hamilton respectively. This series also saw the final appearance of Joe Maw as Johnny Taylor in the part 1 finale "Dragon Slayer".

Production
This series featured scripts from Emma Reeves, Richard Lazarus and Sophie Petzal, among others. Philip Gladwin has been confirmed as the show's new script editor.

Philip Leach took over from Simon Nelson as producer and Lis Steele continued her position as executive producer. Roberto Bangura, who was worked on shows such as Waterloo Road has joined the directing team. Other directors that directed the series include; Nigel Douglas, who previously worked on The Dumping Ground; and former Wolfblood director, Matthew Evans.

Production began on 16 June 2014, and was completed on 10 November 2014.