Hollyoaks star Nadine Mulkerrin told us she was ‘chuffed’ to be involved in final part of the Channel 4 soap’s new online reality series.
The five-part show, entitled Hollyoaks: IRL, features viewers of the soap whose lives have been forever changed by watching the popular serial, as well those whose lived experiences helped shape some of the show’s most important and talked about storylines.
Individual’s experiences of depression and suicide, county lines child exploitation, disability, eating disorders and conversion therapy, all of which have featured in recent high-profile Hollyoaks storylines.
Nadine, who plays Cleo McQueen in the long-running soap, meets with a young man named Ben Robinson, who discusses his experiences of having an eating disorder.
Ahead of the final episode of Hollyoaks: IRL, Metro.co.uk spoke to Nadine to discuss the documentary, her groundbreaking bulimia storyline, and what’s next for Cleo.
How did your involvement in this episode of Hollyoaks IRL come about? And how did you react when you heard about it?
It was Rachel Hardy, who used to be in charge of our press department, but she moved over to the more digital side. She gave me a call and said that there was this new project they were doing, and it all sounded really exciting!
I’d met Ben before when we did the Beat documentary, so he wasn’t a stranger. It was amazing! It was so, so nice to see Ben again. I’m always chuffed, and it feels like a bit of an honour when we do these special issue-based storylines at work. It was fantastic!
What was it like meeting with Ben again?
It was so nice! We get on really well. I always ask so many questions! His story is so real, and it’s so close to what Cleo went through. He nearly died and had a cardiac arrest. He’s so open and honest. I asked him off-camera if it was okay to talk to him about everything, and he said there was no question I couldn’t ask, which is pretty powerful! And with the pandemic, it’s been just over two years since we’ve seen each other, but it’s just like we clicked our fingers and was like: “where did the last two years go?!” it was mad!
Was there a structure you had to follow when filming Hollyoaks: IRL?
You know what? There wasn’t. Because I was a bit panicked and was like: “what’s the format?”, but it was just super-chilled, it was just like filming us having a conversation. Obviously, there were topics we touched on, particularly how the pandemic has impacted people living with eating disorders. It was a really nice day, and we genuinely did walk all the way up to this special place in Bolton that means a lot to Ben, Rivington Pike.
Hollyoaks, for all its frills, extravagance and flamboyance, when we do an issue-based storyline, we do it properly.
I’ve been lucky enough to have a couple and the research that goes into it, and all these extra bits of content that they’re developing now – you don’t even have to watch Hollyoaks – we just want to reach out to different audience members and share something that might help people, or encourage conversation around mental health, which is always a positive. These little bits that we do on the side are just as impactful as the storylines that we do.
Will you stay in touch with Ben?
Yes, we always did send the odd message on Instagram! When I had Reggie, he sent me a: ‘Congrats mate!.’ Honestly, we really get on, and he’s just such a nice, lovely lad. I follow him and his girlfriend on Instagram. That’s how everyone connects these days, isn’t it? For all its pitfalls, it’s a great way of finding out what your friends are up to.
Do you think it was important for the show to highlight that eating disorders can affect anyone?
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One hundred percent. There are so many misconceptions and myths around eating disorders, and I think because a lot of the times in the media it’s portrayed in a certain type of way, it’s normally a female and they’re so skeletal, but that’s not just what an eating disorder is. I didn’t realise until I did the storyline. There is a huge umbrella of people that can be affected. Men, and Ben I think that’s why he does it, he’s saying that eating disorders don’t discriminate, it can affect anyone and everyone.
Are you proud of Cleo’s bulimia storyline in Hollyoaks?
Yes, I always say that, looking back, that’s still one of my favourite weeks of episodes. It had been a long time coming, and they really took their time with it, and it reached its pinnacle on the wedding day. Roanne Bardsley, she was a writer on Hollyoaks, I remember that they were the best scripts that have ever gone into my drawer! It could’ve been a 9 O’clock BBC drama, it was really special. And real. And all the detail that had gone into it. I was so proud to be part of it. It was amazing.
Was that a difficult storyline for you to film?
Yes, and there were a few scenes that got cut because we’re on at half six! I remember there was a scene where they had me in the bathroom, and Cleo had just purged, and her tooth falls out. They got a real mould of a tooth, it was so realistic.
And afterwards, she’s having this breakdown and hitting herself, and the voices in her head, you could see how tormented she is with them. It never made the edit, but obviously I still had to film that and go to those places, so it was an intense couple of months of filming, but I loved it. I love a challenge! I genuinely felt that one, it was good.
Cleo is at the centre of a huge storyline in Hollyoaks right now, what with Pete having resurfaced, how has Pete’s presence in the village affected her?
I love it when I hear that Kai Owen is coming back because he’s one of my best friends! I love him so much, and I love working with him.
I think that’s one thing Hollyoaks have always tried to say that sexual abuse and sexual trauma, you can carry that for life. It doesn’t have to determine who you’re going to be for the rest of your life, but those memories and that trauma never leaves you.
When I found out Kai was coming back, I was chuffed! But for Cleo, it’s haunting, and old demons might resurface.
Cleo has really hit it off with Toby. Do you think she could see a long-term future with him?
Obviously, I know that he killed Lisa, so I’m always waiting when I get scripts, wondering when that’s going to come out! How is Cleo going to react to that?! Bless her, she doesn’t have the best of luck with men, does she? I think with Toby, at the minute she does think it’s all roses, but who knows? If I’ve learned anything in my eight years, it’s never believe that your character is going to be happy for very long!
It doesn’t happen very often in soap, does it?
[Laughs] No! It wouldn’t be very exciting to watch if everyone was happy!
As you say, there is that secret that Toby killed Lisa – how do you think Cleo would react if she discovered this?
In all honesty, I think she’d go: “Right, I don’t think relationships are for me, I have the worst luck ever!”. If they’re not secretly gay, or a priest or have murdered someone, it’s like: “what is with the men in this village?!”
I think she would just swear of men all together, and I think she should anyway!
Is there anything you can tease for Cleo? What’s coming up for her?
Ooooh! What can I tease? Well, I guess in this new Covid world, myself and Rory are the only two cast members that are allowed to be within two metres of each other.
I always think Cleo and Joel, they’re endgame. They’re a bit like Darren and Nancy, and the audience root for them so much, and you got to give the audience what they want sometimes, so who knows?! Will Cleo and Joel reunite? Will they not?
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