‘I didn’t want Ste to be a racist’
Can Ste manage to turn his life around? MEETS KIERON RICHARDSON
Over the years, Ste has got himself into a fair few scrapes – from abusing his girlfriend to dealing drugs – but he has really got himself into a mess recently. Stuart threatened to kill Ste after discussing his plan to flee their far-right group, and Jonny tells him to do a runner. But can Ste really trust him? Hollyoaks legend Kieron Richardson reveals all…
You’ve had some huge storylines over the years, but this one seems on another level. What did you think when you first heard about it?
My first thought was, “What is radicalisation?” I’d never heard of it before, so I had to do a lot of research. Then I got very nervous and thought this is so far removed from anything I know.
How did you prepare?
I did quite a lot of research with the team at Hollyoaks. I read some books and I went onto Youtube, too. There are a lot of awful videos on there, there’s so much stuff that you wish you didn’t see.
Were you worried about what the viewers would think?
Yeah, I think naturally you get defensive of the character you’ve been part of helping create for the past nearly 15 years. You become protective and I didn’t want Ste to be a racist – I never thought of him as that.
What has the reaction been like?
It’s all been positive. The highest-rated episodes this year were the far-right ones, so that says something. It got the audience to sit up and watch and listen.
How was it working with Ray Quinn?
Little old twinkle toes! Yeah, it was amazing. I was so nervous [about the storyline], but was over the moon when we got Ray. But then, it’s quite apparent that he’s so supergood at everything that I needed to pull my socks up and get my acting chops right on because he’s amazing.
Can Ste come back from this?
Eventually. Rightly so, his family are appalled at his behaviour and have wanted nothing to do with him and his views. But I think he’ll be fine. He needs to take stock, revaluate everything and just find his happiness. ■
‘Ray Quinn is super-good at everything’