Gemma Merna final appeared on Hollyoaks in 2013, when her fan-favorite character Carmel Valentine was killed off throughout the present’s dramatic prepare crash storyline. Now, greater than a decade later, Merna is returning to the Channel 4 cleaning soap as Carmel’s on-screen brother John Paul McQueen (James Sutton) prepares to exit the collection. The actress lately opened up about what it meant to step again into the world of Hollyoaks and reunite with the McQueen household, one of many present’s most beloved households.
Talking about her return, Merna shared how pure it felt to be again on set. “It was pretty filming with acquainted faces,” she shared. “It was like we’ve been transported again to over 11 years in the past. It’s bizarre, it’s like nothing has modified, however clearly we’re a lot older and wiser now. It was pretty to have the unique household again collectively.”
Teasing what viewers can count on from her return, Merna revealed that Carmel seems in multiple emotional context. “We see two totally different variations of Carmel,” she defined. “Each scenes had been written amazingly by Alanna Hallum. She has written so many wonderful scripts for Carmel, so I used to be very excited as quickly as I noticed her identify on the script. I knew it was going to be good.”
Merna additionally mirrored on the lasting impression Carmel had on viewers. “Individuals say to me ‘I used to run dwelling from faculty to observe her, she used to actually cheer me up,’” she shared. “That’s the factor with Carmel, she cheered everybody up.”
Wanting again on Carmel’s function inside the household, Merna mentioned she all the time noticed the character as a caretaker. “Carmel’s function earlier than her exit was attempting to take care of Theresa and Kathleen-Angel,” she defined. “She was the one who all the time had job and numerous construction. She sorted everybody. If anybody felt down Carmel was there to present them an enormous hug and inform them that every little thing was going to be okay.”
When requested which storylines stood out most from her time on the present, Merna didn’t hesitate. “The prepare explosion storyline was epic and Who Shot Calvin,” she mentioned. “One other was when she acquired married to Calvin, as a result of it was a flash ahead which was simply genius.”
Merna believes that the McQueen household’s relatability is the important thing to their lasting reputation. “Individuals say to me there’s somebody in my household that’s like Mercedes, or Tina, or John Paul, or Carmel, or Myra,” she mentioned. “Everybody pertains to them as a result of they’re regular.”
Sharing one in every of her favourite reminiscences from the present, Merna recalled her very first episode, “After we first joined, it was me, Jen, Hollie-Jay and Leah. It was my first ever scene and we’re all within the SU bar singing. Darren Osborne is available in and is like ‘we may make a lady band out of those’. I feel that’s one in every of my favorite reminiscences, our first episode of coming into the village. I cherished that.”
Reflecting on what the McQueen identify nonetheless means to her, Merna added, “Being a McQueen means every little thing to me. It’s like being a McQueen is a part of my coronary heart. As Carmel mentioned simply earlier than she handed away ‘you get one McQueen, you get all of us’, that’s what it’s, when you’re a McQueen you’re all the time a McQueen.”
Hollyoaks airs Monday via Wednesday within the U.Ok. on E4, with episodes being obtainable on YouTube for world
