Denise is already in on the toyboy act
Hollyoaks star says personal life set her up for role
Denise Welch doesn’t think her latest acting role will be too much of a stretch to play.
The actress jumped at the chance to appear in Hollyoaks as a 60-something with a hunky toyboy – as that is just like her real life.
Denise says: “To keep young, on Hollyoaks I have a lover who’s 44. In real life, I’ve got my husband, who’s 47.”
She plays Trish – a feisty dance teacher and mum to Maxine, played by Nikki Sanderson. The pair previously starred in Coronation Street together.
“Trish has a younger lover, Brad, who’s a bit of a player,” Denise explains. “Him and Trish clearly have an active, intimate relationship. The age thing is not the issue. She’s very much in control and I love that.
“They’re writing for a 62-year-old woman who has an active sex life, like me. I think it’s wonderful – it’s one of the things that attracted me to the part.”
Loose Woman Denise says she’s been enjoying the scenes with her on-screen love Tom Benedict Knight as he’s rather easy on the eye.
“I did phone the casting people and say, ‘Well done’,” she admits.
“When they said I’d have a boyfriend, I thought they’d get someone who’d been in Dad’s Army so I was delighted when I heard it was Tom.”
Due to Covid restrictions, Denise hasn’t been able to get as close to him as she may have liked. But it has meant her real-life love, husband Lincoln Townley, may get a part on the soap.
“They’re considering our real-life partners as body doubles,” explains Denise. “Lincoln has never been out of the gym since I mentioned it!”
She tells how her first day on the Hollyoaks set was a baptism of fire.
“Me and Nikki Sanderson had to launch into this dance routine,” she says. “It was so cringe! It was tough doing it in front of people I hadn’t met before.
“I was under the impression I’d just be barking orders at people, not that I’d actually be doing the dancing.” ■■Hollyoaks, Channel 4, MondayThursday, 6.30pm