WHAT IS LOVE?

ASHLEY TAYLOR DAWSON

TELL us ABOUT your FIRST EVER DATE…

I had a skateboard and I took her down the hill to show her how crazy I was. It was a wonderful day.

do you REMEMBER your FIRST KISS?

It was with this girl at my local theatre group and I remember being dead excited. I went home and was like, “Oh my God, this is love!” I told my mum, but she was like, “Just get to bed!”

HOW WOULD you DESCRIBE HEARTACHE?

It’s something you can’t detach yourself from. You just want to cry yourself to sleep. You feel like you’re in a really shit film. I remember sort of laughing at myself when I was crying, but I still couldn’t stop the tears.

WHAT RELATIONSHIP Advice WOULD you GIVE your 16-YEAR-OLD SELF?

Imagine you’re a father and you’ve got a daughter. How would you like her to be treated? But you’re a young kid, so I’d say, “Do more!” Go hard or go home, because those are the years you should be doing it. You need to grow, travel, see the world and do something different.

WHAT HAVE you LEARNT FROM PAST RELATIONSHIPS?

It was so long ago now, but you both have to lay the law down at the beginning. If you let someone have too much too soon, you’ll never get that back and it can turn into a problem. Don’t give away too much of yourself too soon. I’m glad of my mistakes because they’ve made me who I am. I’m a good guy and the relief in knowing my conscience is clear compared to how it used to be is a wonderful thing.

Hollyoaks is on weekdays at 6.30pm on Channel 4 and at 7pm on E4