Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Hollyoaks star Kieron Richardson has revealed a difficult time ahead for his character Ste Hay following the one-year time jump.
The actor has warned that Ste could suffer a breakdown in upcoming episodes, as he starts to believe that his late husband James Nightingale is still alive.
Ste and James were caught up in a car bomb explosion last month, providing a huge cliffhanger before the Channel 4 show’s timeline shifted forward by 12 months.
Following the jump, Ste woke up from a coma after a year in hospital. He was devastated to discover that James hadn’t survived the incident.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy on the red carpet at the Inside Soap Awards this week, Kieron confirmed ongoing struggles for Ste as he’s unable to accept the truth about James.
Kieron told us: “Ste has woken up from the coma now and everybody else has moved on in the 12 months. Ste is stuck in the past and hasn’t.
“He’s found out that his husband has died, his son has been in Youth Offenders, his daughter’s given birth, so there’s a lot of information to process.
“Then leading onto that, we get to a point where Ste has kind of got psychosis. He can’t accept what’s happened and he thinks that James is still alive.”
However, hinting that somebody could be manipulating Ste’s confusion, he added: “Somebody’s got something to do with it…”
The first episodes following the jump also revealed that, while comatose, Ste had been receiving hospital visits from his potential new love interest Rex Gallagher.
Ste was initially hostile towards Rex once he woke up, blaming him for the chain of events that led to James’s death.
Discussing the Ste and Rex story, Kieron continued: “I can’t deny that, chemistry-wise, I think they look quite good. There are quite a few more scenes. There’s definitely another kiss coming, which is quite intimate and passionate.
“In terms of the future, I was told that at some point they’re going to be together, but you’ll have to keep watching to find out. I’m still waiting for that moment to happen!”
Kieron went on to praise former EastEnders star Jonny Labey, who was cast as Rex earlier this year.
He said: “I don’t know what they’re going to be like as a duo. It kind of reminds me of the Ste and Brendan days, in terms of this guy that was a little bit dangerous.
“Because of the stories that we’ve been in so far, and losing James is quite new and quite fresh, I think it might take a while to get to that point.
“But I would like to hope that they keep the two together, because I do quite like the dynamic. We’ll see where that one goes. And Jonny’s an amazing actor.”
The Inside Soap Awards took place in London on Monday night and saw Hollyoaks star Isabelle Smith, who plays Frankie, triumph in the Best Newcomer category.
