Jessica Fox feels "most proud" of Hollyoaks' male suicide storyline in her 15 years on the soap.

Jessica Fox

Jessica Fox

The 37-year-old star - who has played Nancy Hayton since 2005 - has been involved in some of the show's most harrowing plots, and she felt a big responsibility to portray her latest hard-hitting storyline, which will see her character's fiance Kyle Kelly (Adam Rickitt) decide to end his life after losing his battle with depression.

She told The Sun newspaper: "'Hollyoaks' is brilliant at doing issue-based storylines and every issue will resonate very differently for the people who watch it and the people involved in it.

"I am most proud of this storyline - I think everyone feels the weight of it when we do storylines like that as we are all invested in it."

The Channel 4 show will focus on the aftermath of Kyle's death and look at Nancy's grief as she struggles to cope after losing her fiance.

Jessica said: "We've filmed the immediate aftermath and you see Nancy's grief, anger, shock, guilt and confusion.

"The loss of the person she was in love with and going to marry and how this will affect not only her but her children, her friends and the village. How one person's decision can have so many ripples."

Jessica also admitted Nancy will carry the grief forever, and it will become "part of her history" for as long as she remains in the show.

She added: "We are very keen to play this out across the years, it is now part of Nancy's story and that grief won't go away, it will be part of her history.

"It's quite a hard mix to get all those boxes ticked and I think that's something 'Hollyoaks' is brilliant at."

Adam recently admitted he felt a "sense of personal fear" about taking on such a huge plot. He said: "When I first heard about the storyline, I was excited as an actor to be able to portray such a dramatic journey, and pride that the team had entrusted me to do it.

"There was also a sense of personal fear.

"Like all too many I had to walk a similar path in my lifetime and the idea of revisiting that, even in the world of fiction, was slightly daunting.

"In truth though it became an incredibly empowering experience. The sensitivity and heart that the writers put into the story really shone through, and at a time like now, more than ever, I think we need to be highlighting just this sort of issue.

"As sad as I am to say goodbye to Kyle, I have loved being a part of 'Hollyoaks'."


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