Hollyoaks star Kieron Richardson addresses major show changes – and confirms game-changing and ‘unexpected’ twists
Hollyoaks star Kieron Richardson previewed what’s to come, both for Ste Hay and for the Channel 4 soap in general as a new era commences (Picture: Lime Pictures)
If you prefer your Hollyoaks with twists galore than you had better strap yourself in and prepare for a bumpy ride, with a number of game-changers on the way, according to star Kieron Richardson.
The Channel 4 soap, a staple of teatime TV for three decades, is currently enjoying its finest era in years under the rule of boss Hannah Cheers, with many a compelling storyline this year putting fans’ jaws firmly on the floor.
There was, however, a shock of a different kind in store when it was confirmed that the much-loved serial will reduce its episode output to three a week following new research which indicates that this is the optimum amount.
In order to facilitate the reduction from five episodes to three- which will come into effect in September – 130 members of staff have been made redundant, with reports indicating that 20 of them are cast members.
Despite this upsetting decision, Hollyoaks is intent on handling the move with style, heralding in its new era in a way that only Hollyoaks could, with an autumn stunt followed by a time jump, the latter of which is yet another first for a UK soap.
While much of the finer details are currently being kept under wraps, I caught up with Ste Hay star Kieron for an exclusive chat, and he gave me a little taster of the plans for autumn.
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‘I can tell you that the last of the five-episodes week, you can expect huge, huge things. Huge, huge, huge, huge things,’ he teased.
Consider me intrigued.
‘I keep hearing little things about what is happening and it’s really, really exciting. If you thought January [stunt] was epic, I don’t think people are going to be ready for this.
‘For me as a viewer and watching it at home as I do, I can’t wait to watch the first three-episode week to see what happens to the characters that are involved.
‘Moving forward, I don’t think we should give away – who [is involved], or rather what – is going to happen in the autumn. I’m guessing [what happens] will leave the audience shocked but then it will open lots of questions for the future.’
Kieron has played Ste for almost two decades – and he’s never been more busier than he has this year, with the character at the centre of all the drama (Picture: Lime Pictures)
Kieron also refrained from mentioning whether or not he will be included in the scenes in question, stating that he doesn’t want to ruin the suspense for the audience.
‘I can see people trying to speculate who is staying and who is going, I think it would be nice for the audience to watch it and let the story take you on that journey to make the hooks and the shocks worthwhile.’
But enough about September as there is still plenty of drama left to unfold for the storylines playing out on scene, with Kieron confirming that there’s another major shock in store for his character Ste – and this one is just around the corner.
Ste has been at the centre of all the drama since January, when he accidentally knocked Ella Richardson (Erin Palmer) down while rushing daughter Leah Barnes (Ela-May Demircan) to the hospital.
Ste accidentally knocked Ella down in January – and he hasn’t stopped paying for it since (Picture: Lime Pictures)
‘The initial meeting when I was told what was going to happen, I was gobsmacked,’ admitted Kieron, discussing the Ella twist. ‘Mouth wide open. Then the first question I had was “Am I going to prison? Is this the end of Ste?”.
Then I was told “No, you’re not”. But stories evolve and change and we’re currently filming, finally, the court case.’
Cue the twist.
As was confirmed on screen last week, Ste will appear in court in July. The scenes in question, according to Kieron, are ‘huge’.
‘It properly goes to court,’ he confirmed to Metro.co.uk. ‘Without giving anything away, something happens on the date of the court case – something huge happens in Ste’s life that will shock the audience. It’s unexpected. It was unexpected for me when I read the scripts and I think the audience are not going to see this one coming.’
Talk about twists on top of twists! Hollyoaks at its finest.
Ste is determined to be there for Leah and Lucas before he’s sent to prison (Picture: Lime Pictures)
Ahead of his day in court, Ste will turn his attention to Leah and Lucas (Oscar Curtis), desperate to spend whatever shred of time he’s got left with his beloved kids.
Lucas, as viewers know, was subjected to months of abhorrent conversion therapy, which Ste only found out about a number of weeks ago when his son bravely came out to him in powerful scenes.
‘We had one of my favourite directors which is Sean Glynn, who is just amazing [directing the scene],’ said Kieron. ‘He really says the right things to you and gets you in the right headspace to do scenes like that.
Ste feels guilty for not having been there for Lucas during his ordeal (Picture: Lime Pictures)
‘You want to try and make it as believable as possible and sometimes when you’re doing heavily emotional scenes you might have to rely on a bit of help to get you there. But the dialogue was very believable and didn’t feel forced, and I think Oscar [Curtis] did a really good job at it.’
Hear hear!
In terms of Ste and Lucas’ relationship, Kieron said that Lucas coming out was a ‘big moment’ for the father and son duo. ‘The perfect person for Lucas to speak to would be his dad but he felt like he couldn’t. That’s where the guilt side comes into it, and Ste feeling like a terrible parent.
Lucas came out to Ste earlier this month (Picture: Lime Pictures)
‘Before the trial and the looming expectation that he could lose the next fourteen years of his life, he’s trying to make amends and put things into place. He ends up in another criminal act with Warren, which will benefit Leah and Lucas when he’s not around.’
Ste has, as fans have seen, been working with Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas) over the past few months in a bid to make amends for his role in Ella’s death.
This allegiance, however, has spelled nothing but trouble for Ste and inevitably there is much more trouble and torment to come. ‘Ste is in up to his eyeballs in it and doesn’t understand or know this world,’ concluded Kieron.
Ste’s alliance with Warren has led to nothing but misery for him – with much more to come (Picture: Lime Pictures)
‘In his past, he’s been used to doing naughty things but wasn’t very good at it. Now he’s in this big boy’s world with Warren and all the other hard men.
‘There’s some stuff coming up where something’s found and Ste is told to leave the country with it on a dodgy mission. It never ends, it’s always like “What’s next?” and a new crime that he has to lie to James about, because [he] obviously doesn’t want him working for Warren.’
I don’t know about you, but I’m hooked on this already.
Hollyoaks streams weeknights at 7:30pm on Channel 4’s streaming platform, or catch episodes on TV at 7pm on E4.
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