With the 18th birthday bomb about to claim the lives of five Hollyoaks residents when it goes off in Ste Hay’s flat this week, fans everywhere have had their hearts in their mouths wondering if one of the fatalities would be Ste himself!
On Tuesday and Wednesday Hollyoaks will see the biggest stunt in the shows history to mark its landmark 18th birthday, and show has confirmed that five regular show characters will lose their lives as a result.
The bomb, which is accidentally transported by Sinead O’Connor (Stephanie Davis) to a party being held at Ste (Kieron Richardson) and Doug’s (PJ Brennan) council flat, is detonated by a vengeful Clare DeVine (Gemma Bissix) and is set to claim five of the following character’s lives:Mercedes (Jennifer Metcalfe), Carmel (Gemma Merna), John Paul (James Sutton), Theresa (Jorgie Porter), Clare, Trevor, Ste, Doug, Sinead, Leanne (Jessica Forrest), Dennis (Joe Tracini) and Darren (Ashley Taylor-Dawson).
Also in danger are Will (James Atherton), his brother Dodger (Danny Mac)and girlfriend Ash Kane (Holly Weston) but for possibly different reasons as we reported earlier today Dodger walks in on Will trying to kill Ash moments before the blast.
However, we think we have found evidence to prove that show favourite, Ste Hay, will not be among the dead.
As fans will be aware, Ste is currently living practically next door to his biological father Danny Lomax (Stephen Billington) blissfully unaware of the DNA they share.
With Danny are his wife and Daughter, Perry, who will be joined very soon by two more daughters, making a total of 3 half-sisters for Ste to get to know, and according to Kieron Richardson, the actor who plays him, there are some big storylines coming up for the family when they do finally reunite – and that couldn’t happen if he is dead, now could it?
Discussing the explosion with Digital Spy, Keiron Richardson first of all explained:
“When you’re doing a stunt, for safety reasons you often have to use stuntmen. What’s great about this story, and the beauty of it, is that each cast member is doing their own stunt in the explosion scene. You’re going to see each of their faces in order to show what happens in the middle of a bomb.
“The story has got to have heart and everything like that, but we also want to show a beautiful stunt. The only way to do that and make it realistic is to have the actors there doing it for real. Each characters’ reaction and experience is shown in slo-mo. You’ll see a lot of danger – it’s great!”
“Because Ste’s flat is a real building and not just a set, it could never really be done on the usual Hollyoaks set. A replica set had to get knocked up and built in Manchester.
“It was actually a little bit strange to be 30-odd miles away from the genuine set. It melted my head a little bit, because at times I was filming in Ste’s flat and thinking I was in Liverpool, and then I stepped outside and I was in Manchester!
On the subject of Ste’s survival in the blast, he continued:
“Well, the regular viewers will know that the council flat is very small. The bomb is in the kitchen, which isn’t really divided from the living room, where most of the characters are, so everyone at the leaving party is in danger. Sinead is particularly close to the bomb – extremely close in fact!
“Upstairs there are more characters because loveable Dodger, crazy Will and his girlfriend Ash are all in the Kanes’ flat. There’s definitely going to be tragedy…”
However it doesn’t look like the tragedy will effect Ste too much as the actor then went on to discuss his character’s future with his new sisters, and the pressure he feels being given a new family:
“There’s immense pressure. I do watch the show like any other person and I get excited over other storylines, especially when things happen that I didn’t know about beforehand.
“When you watch your own performance, you sit back and cringe and question the choices that you’ve made. I always want to do the best job I can possibly do, and the fact that they’re bringing in a full family means that I can’t be complacent. I’ve still got a long way to go yet.
“You can’t forget the fact that Hollyoaks is a Northern soap, as it’s based in Chester. The only Northern family we’ve had at the heart of the show for many years has been the McQueens. Now we have the Savages and the Roscoes, who are great Southern families, so we did need another Northern family. I’m quite excited because Northerners have got great charm.
“With the things that Kirsty-Leigh [Porter] and Jess [Ellis] are bringing to their characters Leela and Tegan, we’ve got a bit of comedy coming up. In Leela, there’s also a bit of the Jacqui McQueen that’s been missing! We’ve got the innocence of Peri too, and the craziness of the mum and dad as well. There’s something there for everybody!”
Watch all the drama of the explosion unfold in Hollyoaks Tuesday, October 15 and Wednesday, October 16 at 6.30pm on Channel 4 / Channel 4 HD.
