{"id":490445,"date":"2025-10-11T07:39:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T07:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490445\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T07:39:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T07:39:16","slug":"hollyoaks-o-b-star-darren-jefferies-now-eight-years-after-final-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/490445\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollyoaks O.B star Darren Jefferies now eight years after final appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former Hollyoaks star appeared on a rival soap after bowing out of the Channel 4 show<\/p>\n

Angie Quinn<\/strong> Screen Time Reporter <\/p>\n

08:00, 11 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

\"HollyoaksActor Darren Jefferies played O.B in Hollyoaks <\/p>\n

Hollyoaks star Darren Jefferies is a world away from his iconic soap character following his last appearance in 2017.<\/p>\n

The 43-year-old actor joined the cast of the Channel 4 soap<\/a> as Sam “O.B.” O’Brien in 1997, and quickly became popular with fans thanks to his on-screen friendship with Max Cunningham, played by Matt Littler.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hollyoaks best friends had their fair share of ups and downs on the show, including a huge spat over Clare Devine, played by Gemma Bissix<\/a>, before rekindling their friendship.<\/p>\n

However, when smitten Max found love with Steph Dean (Carley Stenson), their happiness was cut short after a tragic accident happened, leaving O.B heartbroken.<\/p>\n

\"Hollyoaks\"Darren Jeffries is famed for playing O.B in Hollyoaks(Image: Mersey Television)READ MORE: Hollyoaks Max Cunningham star Matt Littler unrecognisable 17 years after emotional exit<\/a>READ MORE: Brookside icon Ricky Tomlinson is pictured on set as Bobby Grant after 37 years<\/a><\/p>\n

In July 2008, Max and Steph’s wedding day arrived, but disaster struck when the groom pushed his younger brother, Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins), out of the way of a speeding car.<\/p>\n

Max was hit by the car being driven by drunken nemesis Niall Rafferty (Barry Sloane), and despite Tom, Steph, and OB’s best efforts to save him, he died.<\/p>\n

OB was distraught after his best friend passed away in his arms, and he decided to leave the village for good and headed for a new life in London.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Darren returned as the loveable O.B. to the soap, but left again in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"HollyoaksO.B and Max were best friends in Hollyoaks (Image: Mersey Television)<\/p>\n

Speaking at the time of his character’s brief stint, Darren said: “Being back without Max will be strange for O.B.”<\/p>\n

He added: “But his death gave O.B a new perspective on life. I think he’s got more of a seize the day kind of attitude now.”<\/p>\n

Since leaving the soap, Darren has continued to act and made an appearance in the BBC<\/a> series Doctors in 2017, before returning six years later to play a different character.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the former soap star returned to screens in the comedy series Brassic. Darren has also starred in the short movies Lone Wolves (2024) and I Know A Place (2023).<\/p>\n

Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n

Away from the small screen, Darren is also a star on the stage, having appeared in a number of productions including: The Borrowers in Lancaster, Abigail’s Party at the Royal Exchange Theatre, in Manchester, and For the Grace of You Go I at Theatr Clwyd in Wales.<\/p>\n

But Darren’s talents don’t stop there as he also works behind the camera. He recently showcased his talents during a project for Everton Football Club.<\/p>\n

Darren is also married to a Fashion House Agency owner Stephanie with the pair marrying in Manchester in 2016. The couple share two children.<\/p>\n

Hollyoaks airs Monday to Wednesday on E4 at 7pm and first look episodes can be streamed Channel 4 from 7am<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former Hollyoaks star appeared on a rival soap after bowing out of the Channel 4 show Angie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,411,393,4884,1983,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-490445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-channel-4","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-hollyoaks","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}