Hollyoaks star Anna Passey ‘heartbroken’ by major show change as she confirms it’s the end of an era
Hollyoaks star Anna Passey has revealed her devastation over losing the incomparable Harcourt Grove set and, honestly, same.
The set in question was built last year to facilitate the arrival of Rafe Harcourt (Chris Gordon) and sister – who later turned out to be his wife – Dilly (Emma Johnsey-Smith), with the real-life Arley Hall acting as the exterior.
Sienna Blake, played by Anna, would spend many an evening there in a bid to try and woo Rafe after she and soulmate Ethan Williams (Matthew James Bailey) decided to con him out of his millions.
Following Rafe’s demise – and the discovery that Dilly was, in fact, her biological sister – Sienna moved in to the manor permanently but with the deceased Earl in debt at the time of his death, the house was repossessed.
This, unfortunately, means that we’ll be saying goodbye to Harcourt Grove, with upcoming scenes seeing Sienna, Dilly and Liberty Savage (Jessamy Stoddart) move out of the mansion and back to the flat at Oakdale Drive.
The Harcourt set was truly a sight to behold. Trust me, I saw it in person and it was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen, so I’ll be devastated to see it go – and I’m not the only one, with Anna equally upset.
‘I was heartbroken!,’ she told Metro.co.uk in an exclusive chat. ‘I definitely tried negotiating keeping it. It was such a beautiful set, and I think it’s very fitting for Sienna Blake to live somewhere so nice and grand.
‘We’re back in the cruddy little flat. Though I have to say, it did feel a bit like going home because Sienna has been in that flat for so many years, and then to see someone else’s furniture in there on-screen made me think “Wait a minute, that’s my flat!” [laughs].
‘So it was nice to get back into that space, but I was really sad to lose the manor.’
But while one era comes to an end another begins, with Sienna’s long-lost grandmother Martha (Sherrie Hewson) rocking up. Martha proves to be a proper Blake, claiming to be one thing while she’s secretly up to something else.
Sienna, if she weren’t the one being played, would be very proud.
‘Sienna’s really unsure about Martha,’ Anna told me. ‘She is the only person who isn’t buying this ‘frail old lady’ act. She’s got her eye on her and knows there’s something up with her and I think Sienna is a really good judge of [character], she’s been there, done that!
‘She sees that Dilly and Liberty are being very naive, accepting Martha into the fold, but Sienna has her eye on her and knows there is more to it and doesn’t trust her. When she finds out it was her that took her blood, she obviously knows there’s something deeper coming from it.’
Anna was quick to heap praise on actress Sherrie Hewson, branding her ‘perfect’ in her role as the Blake matriarch. ‘She’s fabulous to work with and I think she fits into the weird, dysfunctional family so perfectly,’ she enthused.
Martha, however, isn’t the only new addition to the Blake family, with Sienna’s uncle Jez set to take the village by storm. Jez, being Patrick’s twin brother, will be played Jeremy Sheffield, who is returning to the show yet again.
Jeremy, whose dastardly character Patrick was killed off eight years ago, made a brief return as the villainous headmaster earlier this year, portraying a figment of Dilly’s imagination.
This time, however, the actor is back in a more regular capacity and – according to Anna – Jez is completely different in comparison to his previous alter-ego.
‘[Jez is the] Polar opposite!,’ she exclaimed. ‘He’s completely wild and free, and fun-loving and caring. He’s a gardener – he looks the same, and they have the same face, but a completely different type of character. Very different vibes.
‘Sienna finds that quite hard to deal with at first, because she and Maxine have a lot of terrible history with Patrick. He’s so nice, but being in the body and the head of Patrick is difficult for them to get their head around.’
Anna promised so much ‘great stuff’ to come for Hollyoaks, confirming that she was ‘moved to tears’ by some of the developments in the scripts she’s read thus far.
‘People who watched the show when Patrick Blake was around are going to really, really enjoy it,’ she said. ‘I think they’re going to see a big dive into the history files of the Blake storylines.
‘That’s going to be really exciting for fans who have been with us for a while, and for new fans, with Sherrie Hewson and Jeremy Sheffield coming in, as these two iconic spearheads of the family is going to be really exciting to watch. It’s not all that it seems it’s going to be, but whenever is it? There are some shocks and turns that even I didn’t expect. A lot of fun coming up.’
Be prepared – It’s all very exciting! Whatever the future holds for Sienna, let’s just hope the Ethan is involved, with fans very keen to see the two back together.
Hollyoaks is about to herald in a new era in September, with episodes being reduced from five to three. To facilitate the change, there have been major cast cuts, with reports claiming that 20 stars will be exiting in the changeover.
‘I don’t really like change,’ said Anna on the subject. ‘I find it quite difficult. But I do think it’s time for change and you can resist it, or you can embrace it. I think what Hollyoaks is doing so brilliantly is fully embracing it, and it’s a different era.
‘Soaps mean something slightly different to what they used to mean. People don’t consume anything in the way they used to anymore, if you think about how much technology and the way people view things has changed.
‘When I used to be a little kid, my Grandma used to watch Coronation Street religiously and we’d be sent out of the room. It doesn’t really work that way anymore for a lot of people and I do think if the audiences are watching it online, that’s where we need to be.
‘If the audience is consuming a smaller package of it, that’s what we need to be offering up. It’s very much a time to be rolling with what people are looking for rather than trying to resist it.’
Hollyoaks streams weeknights at 7:30pm on Channel 4’s streaming platform, or catch episodes on TV at 7pm on E4.
