Exclusive: Hollyoaks star Nicole Barber-Lane calls for iconic cast return
"We didn't see his body..."
Hollyoaks star Nicole Barber-Lane has revealed the cast members that she would bring back to the soap if she could, including her character Myra McQueen’s late son Niall Rafferty.
Introduced in 2007 as Myra’s estranged son, Niall entered the Hollyoaks village as a serial killer whose victims included Max Cunningham, Kieron Hobbs and his own sister Tina McQueen. Torn apart by guilt after killing Tina, Niall took his own life in 2008.
Last year, Tina and her sisters Michaela and Carmel McQueen made a one-off return to Hollyoaks in a special episode that focused on John Paul McQueen’s imagining of what different versions of his life could’ve looked like.
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Chatting exclusively to us at a Hollyoaks press day, Nicole revealed the line-up of McQueen icons that she hopes will make a permanent return to the show.
“Hollie-Jaye Bowes as Michaela, Claire Cooper as Jacqui and James Sutton as John Paul,” she lists. “I’d also bring back Barry Sloane, who played Myra’s other son Niall.
“I know Niall died on a rock, but did he? We just saw him go off in an ambulance – we didn’t see his body getting buried! But they’re all busy in real life, which could stand in the way!”
Nicole is part-time at Hollyoaks, but says that she enjoys “flitting in and out” of the village’s storylines centred around the rest of the McQueen family.
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“Don’t make me work too much, guys!” jokes Nicole. “Myra is still trying to be there for the family. Mercy took that mantle of being in control of everyone, but after her illness, I think she’s really glad to have Myra to lean on.
“I think Myra must be babysitting for all the children in the family, so it does mean that she misses out on a lot of things that are going on around her – it’s so funny!”
