Former Hollyoaks star Paul Danan has said he is ‘praying’ for the future of his drama school, just months after he nearly died from respiratory failure.
Paul – who shot to fame when he was cast as Sol Patrick in the Channel 4 soap back in 1997 – set up Morning After Drama in 2020, offering free workshops to those recovering from addiction, neurodivergent people and those with mental health issues.
While he has found success with the project, Paul told the Daily Mail that he is struggling with funding despite a previous lottery grant.
He said: ‘I’m hoping and praying that something does come soon because the last thing I want to say to everyone is “it’s not happening anymore”. They rely on it and it’s something to come to every week.’
Discussing his passion for the drama school, Paul said it had been ‘overwhelmingly rewarding’, having really helped ‘change people’s lives’.
‘It’s about giving back really,’ he said. ‘I deliver drama for free in the communities. It gives them sense of escape in a healthy way and it helps them with their confidence, and I role play all different things, from relationships, job interviews skills or just to have a laugh. We write and produce plays which build to performances and it’s been really successful.
Paul’s funding struggle for the project comes just months after he collapsed at home and had to be given CPR by his family, before he was rushed to hospital.
‘I was on a machine in ICU and ended up with pneumonia. My family were warned I might not make it through the night. I’m so lucky,’ he later told The Sun.
In his interview with the Daily Mail, Paul also opened up about his decision to quit Hollyoaks in 2001 and the rejection he faced in the acting world afterwards.
He said: ‘It’s very tough. I mean, maybe years ago I shouldn’t have left Hollyoaks, but I made that decision because after four years, I didn’t want be typecast and back then, everyone didn’t want to be the next Ken Barlow. You wanted to go off and play different roles, especially when you’re a real actor.
‘I needed to play different roles, I mean how many storylines can one character have? I wanted to go to LA and I did. And I got very close to some very big, big films and things like that. But the rejection… the one thing I hate in life is rejection.’
He added: ‘Acting is a tough job and I think you don’t realise how lucky you are when you’re in a soap and you’ve got the closest thing to a nine to five job in acting that you can get. And when you get out there, you’re like s**t, man, it is really tough!’
