Hollyoaks‘ Kieron Richardson is one of the Channel 4 soap’s longest-serving cast members, having played Ste Hay since 2006. He’s featured in some of the show’s biggest storylines, not to mention a few disastrous marriages, but things could have been very different indeed.
In his new role as host of spin-off behind-the-scenes show Hollyoaks Unwrapped, which aired its first of a limited run of episodes tonight, Kieron asked viewers before the ad break which other role he auditioned for but narrowly missed out on: Craig Dean, Rhys Ashworth, or Mercedes McQueen?
After he revealed that: “It was Rhys Ashworth, who actually died at Ste’s wedding so I’d be dead by now, but I’m not because I’m actually Ste.”
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He later asked his guests — Carol Groves actor Natalie Casey, Grace Black actor Tamara Wall, and Tony Hutchinson actor Nick Pickard — which other characters they’d play.
“I think I’d like to be a baddie,” Nick said, which Natalie agreed with. When asked for an example, Nick said he’d play “someone like Warren [Fox]”. Played by Jamie Lomax, Warren has also been on the soap since 2006, although he’s been in and out a fair bit.
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Tamara said she’d play Georgie Porter’s character Theresa McQueen, because of her outfits and one-liners.
“She looks like a little Barbie,” Tamara said, “so I’d definitely [choose her].”
“I always liked Jambo [Bolton],” Natalie added, referring to her on-screen sister’s boyfriend, who was played by her eventual Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps co-star Will Mellor.
“I always liked the sort of cool, laid-backness of Jambo.”
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“If I was to play another character it would be Darren, because everybody knows I’m obsessed with Ashley Taylor Dawson, and I could just look at meself in the mirror all day long and be like, ‘You’re beautiful, you are beautiful’. I love him,” Kieron joked.
“You know, in Hollyoaks-land, anything can happen and I’ve always said, one day I just want Darren to wake up in a bed [look to the side and] and go, ‘Ste!’ I’d be like, ‘Yes! Got there eventually!”
“Oooh, let’s make that happen,” Tamara added. Is this the foundations being laid for an actual storyline?
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Hollyoaks Unwrapped is airing for the next few weeks on Wednesdays on E4 as well as streaming, with more episodes set to drop on YouTube and Spotify for another six weeks after.
The soap is also celebrating its 30th anniversary this month with the one-off return of Hollyoaks Later, and plenty of dramatic episodes.
Hollyoaks airs on Mondays-Wednesdays with its Channel 4 streaming premiere at 7am, then an E4 broadcast the same night at 7pm. Full episodes are also released on YouTube a week after their Channel 4 release.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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