Emmett says he swears by new drama, but it has cost him a fortune
LEAVING a successful soap can ei ther lead to an actor soaring into a ra ange of very different roles – or slowly disappearing without trace.
And despite having a 12-month sp pell where “I couldn’t get a yes to sa ave my life”, former Hollyoaks star Emmett J Scanlan has hit the po ost-soap jackpot.
He’s co-starring with Anna Friel in IT TV’S big drama Butterfly as well as few eaturing in two other new series, Women On The Verge and Lore.
Butterfly, which starts tonight, is su ure to be the big talking point.
The three-parter has Anna and Em mmett as the parents of a tra ansgender child, Max.
The relationship between them an nd their differing views on their 11 1-year-old son’s wish to identify and liv ve as a girl and call herself Maxine is at the heart of the drama.
“This hasn’t been done before and I think it’s very brave,” said Emmett.
“More than anything, it’s just so re elevant. It’s taken us until 2018 to be ab ble to do a TV series like this.
“We’re delving into a sensitive su ubject and it’s one many of us pr robably don’t know much about.
“I certainly didn’t when I took on th he project. I was pretty ignorant ab bout it.
“But people have always been tra apped in their own bodies and the fa act that we are able to talk about it is im mportant.”
And if the series does indeed set vi ewers talking, that can only be a go ood thing from Emmett’s perspective.
“Let’s have a discussion,” he said. “TTO my mind, this show couldn’t
N OT have been made.
“We need to be able to accept this as s part of the wonderful energy that m makes us all human.”
Callum Booth-ford plays Maxine an nd while Emmett says that he was bl lown away by the maturity and in ntensity of Callum’s performance, it w as a costly set to work on.
“Callum set up a swear box and an nyone who swore had to put a po ound in,” said Emmett.
“He was donating the money to the Mermaids charity, which supports ra ansgender children, at the end of th he shoot.
“But I’m Irish and swearing is part of f my language, so by the end of the fir rst day I was in double figures. “By the end of the second week I as going to set up a direct debit and ustu forward him my wages.
“He’s amazing, though, so watch th his space.”
Emmett left Hollyoaks, in which he pl layed much-loved baddie Brendan Br rady, in 2013 and things initially lo ooked rosy.
“Within weeks I’d left the streets of Chester behind and I was on the set of the big Hollywood movie Guardians Of The Galaxy.
“That was my first job, being in space with Chris Pratt.
“It was surreal but only when you look back on it. You think, ‘ Wow, I really did that and had fun’. But when you’re in it, you’re just in it and living that time.”
Although he subsequently had some tough times, he’s going through a real purple patch.
He was recently seen in both big ITV series Girlfriends and the tense Netflix drama Safe, which many lapped up in a box-set binge.
As well as his currently-on-screen triple bill, Emmett has been dotting back and forward to Rome – with a panic over losing his passport – and has also worked on a new Burke and Hare project for Amazon.
“My schedule has been really crazy as there are also some things coming up that I can’t talk about yet,” said Emmett.
“The past 12 to 18 months have been incredible.”
With such a busy lifestyle and one that’s dependant on what comes up, Emmett is at least in the fortunate position of having an accepting wife, actress Claire Cooper, whom he met on Hollyoaks.
“Claire is an incredible actress and I fell in love with her talent,” he adds.
“She understands when things aren’t going well and when they are.
“She helps out with tapes for auditions and we advise each other.
“We are very supportive of each other and I’d say it certainly helps having someone else in the business.
“But is it dramatic in our family? You can bet it is!”
■ Butterfly, ITV, today, 9pm.