Kieron Richardson grows into character

Kieron Richardson ''hated'' his 'Hollyoaks' character, Ste Hay, when he first portrayed him.

Kieron Richardson "hated" his 'Hollyoaks' character at first.

The actor plays reformed bad boy Ste Hay in the Channel 4 soap but admits he was relieved to be able to give his own input into the character when he joined the show in 2006.

He said: "When he came into the show Ste was a bit of a skater boy, and I hated that.

"I decided to say all the lines in a sinister way and do under-the-eyebrows stuff, and the writers picked up on it. I feel like I've helped create it."

Though Kieron - whose alter ego is currently experiencing domestic abuse in his secret relationship with Brendan Brady (Emmett J. Scanlan) - likes portraying Ste now, he also admires Ashley Taylor Dawson's outrageous character Darren Osbourne.

He told Inside Soap magazine: "I like Ashley Taylor Dawson's character Darren. Ashley plays a lot of comedy bits, but he also does dramatic scenes really well, so he's got quite a diverse character."