Hollyoaks legend Kieron Richardson confirms explosive sex betrayal for Ste Hay – with unexpected character
Nothing is ever plain sailing in Hollyoaks – and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
However, fans of Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) and James Nightingale’s (Gregory Finnegan) relationship might disagree, as they face being ripped apart by sinister and chaotic newcomer Rex (Jonny Labey).
Rex recently exploded onto the scene as a haunting face from the past of Hannah Ashworth (Emma Rigby), and he promptly entered into an ill-advised feud with local murderer Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas).
Jonny, best known for his role as doomed Paul Coker in EastEnders, warned Metro.co.uk from the outset that his new alter-ego is bad news, telling me: ‘He’s really powerful, manipulative, keeps people guessing.
‘At the start when he comes in he’s just there to take over. He’s really power-hungry and he won’t stop for anyone.’
So, when he unexpectedly crosses paths with fan-favourite Ste in coming weeks, it can only be bad news.
In the next stage of his year from hell, which kicked off with him accidentally killing teenager Ella Richardson, Ste will find himself embroiled in a very heated and passionate encounter with Rex.
And, when I confirmed with actors Kieron and Jonny that sparks were going to fly, they had a correction for me.
‘I wouldn’t say sparks flying, I would say explosions, inferno!’ grinned Jonny. ‘It basically goes straight into it and then there’s a twist just to add to the torment.’
Kieron added the word ‘intense’ into the mix, and it sounds like even that could be an understatement, with the promise of some electrifying scenes.
However, as one would expect from a character like Rex, Ste – and James by default – may well regret this encounter.
‘Rex has become this metaphorical onion,’ Jonny mused. ‘He has so many layers and they’re all this bitter taste at the moment. I think we’re trying to get to the core at the minute.
‘It’s been really fun to play and he’s such a terrible character on the surface but we’re digging, we’re trying, we’re using JCB’s to get down to the core of Rex!
‘It’s a new character and sometimes those processes need to be established. With a character as daring and careless as Rex anything can happen. It’s really exciting!’
While I can’t at this stage reveal what this means for Ste and James, soap law dictates that this mistake must be exposed at some stage. So what could this mean for the couple, who viewers affectionately refer to as ‘Stames’?
‘In terms of the Ste and James relationship, it’s never weighed equally on the scales,’ Kieron added.
‘When they first got together it was a lot of Ste supporting James when he was going through his gambling. And with Marnie and Juliet he had a lot of turmoil and was always there supporting him.
‘Then it’s kind of flipped and it’s been James supporting Ste with everything he’s gone through since the crash episode, then trying to go back to drink and drugs and him trying to pull him back from that.
‘It’s never been equal and they’ve never just had a happy couple of months or even weeks together.
‘After what happens, he wants to put it right with James but there’s this secret that will obviously come out. So it’s will James forgive him?’
It’s another explosive storyline to add to the beautifully chaotic mix as Hollyoaks rampages towards a flashforward in September that will see a time-jump of a year to tie in with the drop to three weekly episodes from five.
It’s been a difficult time for the show, with a wave of job losses and storylines naturally having to be overhauled or even dropped.
Up to 20 cast will be leaving, and Kieron admits it has been tricky both for those leaving and those staying, although he adds that many of his departing colleagues have landed new projects.
Ultimately, he hopes it will be good for the show that has been a part of his life for 17 years.
He told me: ‘Everybody that’s making the time-jump, without giving things away, has heard dribs and drabs about what they’re getting up to, which is really exciting.
‘It’s an exciting time for the show in strange circumstances that we’ve been put into. Long term, the excitement’s there, there’s a buzz.’
Hopefully that will be the same for viewers, who will sit down to a massive spectacle in a week of episodes that sparks new mysteries ahead of the time-jump, airs cataclysmic pay-offs, and has a stunt spectacle at the centre of it all.
‘I think from this moment on now, there’s not just one big storyline going on at the minute,’ the actor enthused.
‘It all leads up to this moment in autumn for the big stunt when all the revelations will be revealed. It involves all the residents in the village more or less. I think once you’ve got to the very end of that week people will be desperate to tune in to the new way to see how the stories go from that moment on, a year later.’
Jonny added: ‘What can be fitted in soap life is five times as fast as normal life. What happens is definitely more eccentric. A year is a long time and characters people know and love will be played in different ways.
‘Think how differently you evolve in a year. A year’s a long time. I think everyone will be able to see some brand new characters, almost, but the same ones they have loved for years.’
