Hollyoaks confirms 18-month secret over McQueen family returns
There are big soap comebacks next week.
Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Hollyoaks star Nicole Barber-Lane has shared a secret over the soap’s special McQueen family episode – revealing that it was 18 months in the making. The show celebrates 20 years of the iconic family next week, with familiar faces returning for some unexpected scenes.
Nicole’s character Myra McQueen will soon be surrounded by lost family members, as dead characters Tina, Carmel and Sylver all come back for fantasy sequences. Michaela McQueen and Sally St Claire, who are still alive but currently absent from the show, also feature.
The episode, which airs next Wednesday (18 February), sees John Paul take centre stage as he reflects on his life and different choices he could have made over the years. This paves the way for a ‘What If?’ theme, giving viewers a glimpse of these alternate realities.
In an exclusive chat with us, Nicole revealed that she’s been keeping quiet about plans for this celebratory McQueen special for over a year now.
“I first heard about doing something special for the McQueens about 18 months ago,” Nicole admitted.
“[It was] before I came back, which is why I was like: ‘Okay, I’ll come back!’ So I’m really excited and I’ve been looking forward to this little salute to the McQueens.
“I am so happy and honoured that they want to celebrate 20 years of the McQueens. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years, for a start! But the joy that we had when we started, we’ve got a little glittering of that.”
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Discussing Myra’s role in the scenes, Nicole continued: “They’re John Paul’s fantasy and imagination. In the first one, I’m ‘as is’ – as the fantasy Myra! Then in the second one, it’s a different type of Myra fantasy where she’s quite posh, which is really bizarre!
“It’s so much fun. In between, of course, we’re all catching up and talking about all the craziness we used to have.”
The McQueens made their debut in 2006, as show bosses decided to build a family around Michaela. They’re now one of the most recognisable families in Soapland – and still making a big impact as characters like Mercedes continue to take centre stage in huge storylines.
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Nicole explained: “My favourite moments of being a McQueen are when we all used to sit on the sofa watching TV and having a chippy tea. [We’d have] all the chats and the silliness. Just those casual, fun conversations of the family taking the mickey out of each other. It was golden.
“I think part of the reason the McQueens were so successful is they were literally like the Spice Girls! Each of them individually were different and you’d know somebody like one of the McQueens. You would say: ‘Oh my gosh, that’s just like my aunty’ or ‘my mum’. ‘My sister’s like that’ or ‘my little cousin’.”
“We represented such a broad spectrum of great, amazing people and characters that really spoke to everybody,” she added. “It was just amazing to be a part of.”
John Paul’s reminiscing will ultimately lead to his departure from the show, as James Sutton filmed his final scenes late last year.
