James Redmond has returned to 'Hollyoaks'.
James Redmond
The 45-year-old actor has agreed to reprise his role as Rory 'Finn' Finnigan - a part he played solidly between 1997 and 2002 before making a brief return in 2013 and 2015 -
for another guest stint and will be seen on screens towards the end of the year.
The soap's boss Bryan Kirkwood said: "We'll be seeing a bit of James Redmond over Christmas and New Year. James will be coming and going as the much-loved Finn."
The production team decided to bring back some more fan favourites after being inspired by the return of Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy) and Mandy Richardson (Sarah Jayne Dunn) over the summer because the scenes received such good reviews.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Bryan said: "We are so thrilled with where we are at the moment, with celebrating our heritage and bringing back legacy characters.
"I think there was a feeling up until our 20th birthday that we should always be looking forward - they were certainly conversations that we had with Channel 4.
"But now that we've reached the ripe old age of 22, it's fantastic to be able to celebrate the loyalty of our audience. Some of the people who started watching us as teenagers are now mums themselves, who are maybe watching 'Hollyoaks' with their own teenagers. It's fantastic to have Luke and Mandy back in the show.
"We've got to strike the right balance. We need to move forward with our new, brilliant cast while also having a healthy dose of nostalgia."
And there will be more dramatic scenes on the horizon as Luke's rapist Mark Gibbs (played by Colin Parry) will also be making a shock return over the coming months.
Bryan explained: "When one of our writers pitched the return of Mark Gibbs, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Everyone almost burst into tears with the idea of what that would mean to Luke.
"We will be seeing the return of Mark later this year. He was punished at the time, but he now looks like he's got a lovely, charmed life. To Luke, who is still devastated and drinking himself into a stupor every night, that's a bitter pill to swallow.
"They're really heavyweight performances and episodes. It's thrilling to be able to revisit the past in order to motivate Luke's future."
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