‘Hollyoaks’ star teases new gay romance between Ste and student
By Will Stroude
A major new gay storyline kicks off in Hollyoaks tonight (August 17), as sixth form student Harry Thompson (Parry Glasspool) finally makes a move on Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson).
Yup, while Ste’s estranged hubbie John Paul McQueen (James Sutton) is getting over the pair’s marriage with the help of his cousin’s husband, Ste is moving on with the help of Tony Hutchinson’s (Nick Pickard) 17-year-old son.
Show bosses announced the new romance back in May, but now Parry has teased more details of what viewers can expect from the pair’s burgeoning relationship – and what it’s been like filming those man-on-man scenes.
In in a interview with DigitalSpy, the 23-year-old actor said he was looking forward to getting a “meatier” storyline after joining the Channel 4 soap earlier this year, and that Harry and Ste’s ten-year age-gap could spell drama for the couple.
“I think they seem to be quite a good match at the moment, but I’m not sure if that’s more lust over love. I have mates who are gay and they’ve had relationships with bigger age gaps and they seem perfectly fine.
“Harry’s supposed to be quite mature, but at the same time he is only 17 and he does have moments where he acts like a childish idiot! I’m not sure how many of those moments Ste will be able to put up with, but at the moment they’re not really thinking about that stuff – they’re just more interested in having fun and they’ll think about the rest later.”
Glasspool added he took an, ahem, “balls to the wall” approach to the pair’s gay scenes.
“They’re interesting and entertaining I guess,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see how much they keep for 6.30pm viewing! If we’re going to do it, we might as well do it properly and go balls to the wall, pardon the pun. I think you’ve got to be quite brave about it.
“I always find that after doing your first kiss with another actor, it always just comes naturally after that. If you’re going to go half-way with those scenes then it’s just going to look stupid – you might as well do it properly.”
Of getting his kit off, he added: “I don’t mind it hugely, it’s just sometimes they spring it on you and you feel like you’re having a fat day so you don’t want to do it. You just squeeze out a few press-ups and hope for the best! I don’t mind it, it’s just part of the job.”
Parry, we’ve been on your Instagram and if you’ve ever had such a thing as a fat day, we’ll eat the feather-clad hat we wore to the office today.
Hollyoaks airs weekdays at 6.30pm on Channel 4.
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