Exclusive: Hollyoaks star responds to surprise return in stunt episode
Huge Hollyoaks spoilers follow from Monday's hour-long stunt episode (January 15), which is available to watch now on Channel 4 Streaming. This episode does not air on E4 until Tuesday (January 16).
Hollyoaks star Nicole Barber-Lane has spoken to Digital Spy about her surprise return as Myra McQueen.
Nicole has reprised the role in the show's hour-long stunt episode, which was released on Channel 4 Streaming on Monday evening (January 15).
Myra, Theresa and Cleo McQueen were all travelling in one of the cars that was caught up in the major road disaster involving several characters.
Although viewers knew that Jorgie Porter would be returning as Theresa, no official announcement had been made over Myra and Cleo being back.
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Digital Spy can confirm that Hollyoaks' executive producers Hannah Cheers and Angelo Abela invited Nicole back late last year. For the time being, Myra is appearing for a guest stint.
Nicole told us: "When I heard that Hannah was taking the reins, I was really happy for the show. She's good at characters, she's good at stories, she loves the show and she understands it.
"First of all, it was Nadine [Mulkerrin, who plays Cleo] who asked me if I wanted to meet up for a coffee – we hadn't spoken for a year so I wondered what it was all about!
"Nadine asked me what I thought about returning and at first I said no. I said: 'I'm too busy, I'm doing other stuff, and I think that time has gone now'.
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"I thought I couldn't do it because it's so full-on and it's too much. But then I spoke to Hannah and my agent was involved too, so we were all talking."
She continued: "I was asked what kind of world I'd like Myra to come back to. I said that I knew Jorgie Porter was coming back and if we could get Claire Cooper back, it'd be a really big thing to have Jacqui and Myra back in the show. I knew Claire was doing a lot of other stuff, but I knew that'd be brilliant.
"We kept talking, but schedules weren't really matching. I had another commitment, which has now been put back. Then the stars aligned – Claire could give them a couple of days although it didn't match with my schedule.
"Fortunately, they said they could do the story where Myra is doing something for Jacqui, even though they're not there at the same time. We worked to make sure the story was cohesive and it worked."
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When Jacqui's return episode aired late last year, she was seen hiding out and working as a nun.
After giving her sister Mercedes some harsh home truths, Jacqui was mysteriously seen clutching a copy of the Alicante Oracle newspaper, which had the front-page headline: "Nightclub Owner Murdered".
Asked whether we'll finally get answers over this mystery, Nicole teased: "There will be mentions of it and maybe a bit more explanation of that – but perhaps not fully explained yet!"
Nicole went on to discuss her longer-term future in the role, confirming that she's not ruling out another comeback in the future.
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She said: "I'm very honoured to come back in the stunt episode and I can't wait to see how it all pans out. I'm pleased that it was kept secret for the audience to see in the episode.
"As for whether I'll be back again, the honest answer is I don't know. Let's see what the fans' reaction is. If it's not as great as we hoped for, then no!
"I think it depends on scheduling. I've got other commitments and I'm not sure what's happening with that yet, so I can't commit to anything really.
"I always say 'never say never'. I honestly didn't think I'd be coming back, so who knows what the cards hold?"
Hollyoaks streams first online via Channel 4 each weekday at 7.30pm. Episodes then air on E4 the following day, before getting their YouTube premiere a week after that.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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