Hollyoaks star Emma Rigby breaks silence on Hannah's return as show regular
Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Emma Rigby has broken her silence on her Hollyoaks character Hannah Ashworth's upcoming return as a regular cast member.
While it was known that Emma would be reprising her role as Hannah this year, she made a surprise appearance earlier in January.
This turned out to be a teaser for what's to come, as viewers last saw Hannah being paid off to leave Chester with some stolen cash from Carter Shepherd.
The soap has confirmed that Emma will be back full-time later in 2024, and now she's discussing coming back to the show 13 years after her departure.
Emma promises an "unexpected" future for Hannah when she returns to screens — especially since the character left with thousands of pounds of stolen cash.
"I think [her story will be] incredibly relatable and will really resonate with a lot of the audience so watch this space," she teased.
The actress also spoke in depth about returning to the soap for her January stint — particularly how the filming atmosphere hasn't changed in all this time.
"I'm absolutely thrilled to be back. Nothing has changed at all," she asked. "It feels like I've been in a time vortex like it was yesterday that I was here in a school uniform. I kind of miss the school uniform, we might have to reinstate that. It' lovely to see all the cast and crew, a lot of the same people and then of course a lot of new people who are also lovely. It's also funny for me to be the adult!"
Asked about reuniting with co-star James Sutton (who plays John Paul McQueen), she said: "It was actually quite touching. I remember when we did the scene, between the two of us it was genuine emotion.
"We both have a real fondness, me and James, we have such a love and a nice easy rapport together. There were great memories with us both and of course Guy Burnet [who played Craig Dean], so yes it was great to be back working with James."
Emma wasn't back in Chester alone to kick off the New Year, as Suzanne Hall has also reprised her iconic role as Hannah's mum Suzanne Ashworth.
"Suzanne is the most incredible woman," Emma said. "She is such as lovely human being. I was really close to all of my Ashworth family, we were really like a real family, so we always kept in touch.
"I'm really glad that I’ve come back with Suzanne, and I know she's super excited to be back. We also have the new addition of the twins and that was even a shock for me that there were twins, I was like, do I have a brother and sister? Because that was when I left, so it was exciting."
The recent episodes allowed Hannah to reunite with former flame Darren Osborne and his wife Nancy — which was a chance for Emma to work with long-time co-stars Ashley Taylor Dawson and Jessica Fox too.
"Ashley and Jess are just amazing and I love their commitment to the show," she said. "It's not changed since we were all on it together. They're still so behind the characters, they love what they do and they love the show so I think it's really wonderful to see that. It was so fun to reunite, Ash and I were just laughing all the time and I’ve got him to thank for my return."
Looking back on this brief guest stint, Emma commented: "I loved the twist in recent episodes, it was something that you would never normally think Hannah would do, take the money and leave. That's exciting for me because I like the progression and the idea that there's so many facets of people's character and people can be anything.
"You don't know what you would do being put in that situation and you can be pushed to do anything. It's that nice exploration. I love acting, so it's nice to be back on set and be working every day which is a great thing. Acting back in the show it's kind of like coming home, it's that great nostalgia."
Emma was full of praise for the evolving approach at Hollyoaks, which recently switched to a streaming-first format for its weekly episodes.
"I think it's a fantastic opportunity for everybody and a real way for fans to actually engage with the series and to come back to something that's been modernized," she said. "It's also the first of the soaps to do that, it’s kind of leading the way of how people are going to be watching things in the future.
"Also for me personally, it's making me get into the 21st century which was quite funny because I live as if I’m in the 1950s. So I'm quite excited for that it's encouraging me to step into the present and to actually connect with the world. Even I'm back on Instagram and Twitter and I’m going to be getting TikTok so everything's perfectly aligned."
Discussing working in Liverpool again, she added: "I’ve literally never been happier to be in the North. I love the Northwest I’ve always loved it, it's my home it’s where my roots are.
"Everybody is just so lovely here and has so much personality and are really great hard-working people, it's brilliant to be back amongst it. I love a line that was in the Red Riding trilogy where it says, ‘the North, where we do what we want'."
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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