“It will be surreal to marry my real-life boyfriend on screen!” SNEAK PREVIEW!

Wherever Cleo Mcqueen goes, tears and tragedy seem to follow – from finding out that her boyfriend’s dad killed her cousin, to terminating a pregnancy and then developing an eating disorder, there hasn’t been much for the poor girl to smile about!

But Cleo’s misery has earned her real-life alter ego Nadine Mulkerrin a nomination for Best Actress – so she’s beaming from ear to ear as she arrives at our shoot…

Congrats on your Best Actress nomination, Nadine! How does it feel to be in the running?

I feel chuffed! It’s always flattering to be nominated. We still feel as though we’re the underdogs at the awards ceremonies, so we’re all buzzing if anyone in the Hollyoaks cast wins something. We know how much work everyone puts in, so if one of us wins, we all believe they really deserve it.

What stands out as the pivotal moment of the year for you?

I really liked the love triangle between Cleo, Joel and Sienna – it was nice to see Cleo a little bit stronger, and that was what kicked off the bulimia story, which we’re working on now. I also love working with Rory [DouglasSpeed, aka Joel, and Nadine’s real-life boyfriend]. We’ve had a good year!

What was it like playing out the scenes where Cleo and Joel were broken up on screen?

It was a bit weird to be honest.

It’s funny because we shout at each other in scenes all the time – we’re always crying, and there’s something dramatic going on. Then we’ll go home and just make a cup of tea. We never argue, so it must be good relationship therapy!

Cleo and Joel are currently planning their wedding – what do you think that will be like to film?

I’ll bloody love it, I’m not going to lie! I said to Rory, “You’d better cry when I walk down the aisle!” It’s going to be strange, and very surreal. Everyone keeps saying to us, “Ooh, it’s going to be for real one day!” But my wedding will be very different from Cleo’s.

You went out to Magaluf with the rest of the Mcqueens recently. Was it nice to have a break from Cleo’s heavy storylines?

It was amazing! Things can get a bit serious and intense, especially for my character – I sometimes wonder if she’s ever going to catch a break and be happy! So it was nice to see the Mcqueens in Magaluf having some light-hearted fun. It wasn’t like work at all – it was just brilliant! I’m off to Ibiza this week, and when I come back I think Cleo deserves a bit of happiness – that’s what the audience seems to want for her as well.

Who else in the cast would you like to have some scenes with?

I’ve never done anything with Gary Lucy [Luke], and he’s a soap legend! There’s also a group of us – Luke

Jerdy [Jesse], Daisy Wood-davis [Kim], me and Rory – who hang out together socially all the time, so when we all have scenes together we get the giggles! It’s like we’re just playing pretend, it’s really strange.

If you could swap places with any other Hollyoaks character this year, who would it be?

I really love Marnie’s sass – and her wardrobe! Lysette Anthony will go shopping for Marnie’s clothes, and she’ll rock up in the most amazing outfits. She just looks fabulous – everything’s Chanel – and I’m stood there wearing Cleo’s gear from Primark! So I’d love to have Marnie’s wardrobe, and make-up bag too.

What are your best memories of the Inside Soap Awards parties?

There was one year when a lot of the younger cast went, and we were all on the dance f loor. Richard [Linnell, aka Alfie] used to do West End shows, so he was up there doing pirouettes and box splits! At one point it was just us teenyboppers on the f loor, absolutely tearing it up. We don’t take ourselves too seriously here at Hollyoaks – we’re just there to have some fun! “Bryan Kirkwood [Hollyoaks’ executive producer] told me that I’d be involved in a special episode for World Mental Health Day in October, which is amazing,” Nadine informs us. “The way we tell it, it’s bascially a version of the day in Cleo’s mind – it’s about what she thinks is happening versus what actually is happening. That’s what bulimia can do, it can distort your view of reality. I read the draft, and it was the best script I’d ever seen. It’s really clever how they’ve done it. I’ve totally embraced filming it, so I’m very excited to see what the audience thinks of the episode!”