Gary Lucy said his return to Hollyoaks after a 15-year absence will pick up the long-term effects of his character’s controversial rape storyline.
The actor played Luke Morgan in the Channel 4 soap from 1999 to 2002, leaving when his character was attacked and raped by a boy who had been bullying him.
Luke left the village after his attacker was jailed, but 15 years on is returning to Hollyoaks where viewers will be able to catch up with what impact the trauma had on his adult life – including struggles with alcohol addiction.
Talking to This Morning about the storyline, Lucy said: “There’s a definite legacy. Coming back into it is the story that he hasn’t dealt with these things.
“Had he not had that event in his life, he would have been the lovely guy that he was.
“We’re hoping the audience can see the life that he would have been living had that not happened to him, and he would have had the support and everything now to get to that point.”
On his first stint in Hollyoaks, Lucy said: “It was just an incredible time.
“I did a lot of growing up there and had a gift of a storyline when my character was raped.
“It was the first time it had been covered on British TV.”
Producers had asked Lucy to speak to his parents about whether he wanted to do the storyline at the time, and he said that their reaction had made him sure of taking the challenge on.
He said: “My dad’s first reaction was ‘I don’t like that’, which is why you have to do these things.”
Lucy, 35, said of his return: “It’s like being home, but it just took me a little while to settle back in.”
:: Hollyoaks continues tonight on Channel 4 at 6.30pm and E4 at 7pm.