Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Hollyoaks fans will get their first glimpse of new character Martha next week as she arrives in the village with a hidden agenda.
Show bosses have cast former Coronation Street, Benidorm and Loose Women star Sherrie Hewson as Martha, who's the newest member of the Blake family.
Hollyoaks shocked fans earlier this month with the big announcement that Jeremy Sheffield is returning to the soap, this time playing Patrick Blake's identical twin brother Jeremy.
Martha is Jeremy's mother and she seems to have suspicious intentions for Sienna as they cross paths for the first time next week.
Digital Spy recently caught up with Sherrie for an exclusive chat about Martha's character and the unsettling times ahead for the Blake family as her controlling side is revealed…
How did the Hollyoaks role come about?
"I just got a phone call asking me if I'd like to play Martha. I didn't know much about her at first, but I was then sent the details of what she was like. I knew that it'd be very interesting to play with Jeremy Sheffield, who I adore.
"Martha is also an interesting character because she has a lot of problems, particularly in her relationships with everybody. Especially her relationship with her son, which was very interesting to me.
"Psychologically, I think mothers and sons do have difficult relationships very often. It's great to explore that and find the different places this story could possibly go to next."
How would you describe Martha?
"Martha will be very deceptive. There are several different sides to her. She can seem like a sweet little old lady at first, but then you'll see a very different side of her. You'll see a manipulative, controlling woman who can be quite stoic and quite formidable.
"I think the manipulation is what's most interesting to me. Martha can manipulate the people around her and make them believe that she's something else.
"Now, some people do see through that – and her son Jeremy knows what she's really like! But what's interesting is the many sides to her. There's a side where you believe what she says, there's a side where she's kind and lovely, but then she can flip on a sixpence and suddenly be quite controlling."
Why is she like that?
"Some of it is fear. Some of it is wanting to get her own way. I think Martha is a very enjoyable character to get into, because of all the different things in her head.
"Martha keeps controlling people, or she believes she is and then it comes back at her! If that happens, she's shocked because she's not so much in control. So she's a very interesting character to play."
How do we first meet Martha?
"Furtively you see Martha sneaking around everywhere. Then she phones Jeremy and she says: 'I've found Sienna'. It spirals from there.
"As the story progresses, Martha wants to keep Jeremy away from Sienna, that's the main thing. She knows the capabilities of Jeremy so that's what she's doing.
"It becomes a storyline about Martha protecting Jeremy, but also trying to keep him away from Sienna and protecting her too. So it's very convoluted and it will go around quite a few different corners until we see what happens next."
Why does she want to keep Sienna and Jeremy away from each other?
"Martha is frightened of what Jeremy can do, because she knows all about that, but she also loves him desperately.
"Jeremy loves Martha desperately too, but as in all of those relationships, there's a hate/love aspect. His attitude is: 'I love you, but you're going to do what I say!' It's a very intriguing relationship between Martha and Jeremy. And once she finds Sienna, it's going to be explosive."
How familiar were you with Hollyoaks before you joined?
"I know Hollyoaks and I know many people who have been in it over the years. It's strange to think that it's been going for nearly 30 years, when you think of it as a very young soap. It's nice that it's still so strong.
"What I like about Hollyoaks is they're willing to look into different types of characters and put them together, even where they don't seem to match. When you watch the different storylines and how they come out and evolve, I think that's what's interesting.
"It's a very young soap so it develops young talent. I love to see that young talent coming through. That's exciting because I was young once and I would have loved to have done this when I was young!"
The Blake family have a turbulent history. Have you had to go away and do your research?
"Well I have been told, over and over again, the different aspects of the Blake family history. It's very confusing, I have to say! (Laughs.) I'm trying to get my head around it but it's also very interesting.
"The Blake family have major problems going back quite a few years. You'll see how Martha fits into that, with all of her problems, her instabilities, and the idiosyncratic things she has going on. It's to do with what she's been through in the past – and we see how it affects the other characters who are around now.
"Jeremy tells me everything about past storylines. I have to stop him and go: 'You've lost me!' (Laughs.) He just says: 'I've lost myself!'"
Have you all bonded well as an on-screen family?
"I love them all. I love Anna [Passey, who plays Sienna], I love Emma [Johnsey-Smith, who plays Dilly], they're already like my granddaughters.
"And of course, I love Jeremy. I said to him the other day that he reminds me so much of my brother, who died from a brain tumour a couple of years ago. He was the most beautiful man who's ever lived. I have that connection with Jeremy because he has many of the same qualities, which is quite handy when you're playing mother and son.
"I love them all and I love working with them. And we laugh a lot! That's what matters."
Had you been keen to get back into Soapland, or do you just take it all as it comes?
"I'm very philosophical. I know that, in this business, 'it is what it is'. Our business suffered dreadfully in the pandemic. But I never go: 'Do you know what I'd like to do? I'd love to do…' I don't do any of that. I just take what comes to me and I go: 'Wow, that sounds great!'
"This role was very interesting to me, because I had a mother who was quite formidable. I was on the stage at the age of 4 as she believed that I should be up there, I never went to school or any of that.
"So when this role came along I thought: 'I know this person very well'. It is great to have something to play that you can immediately connect with. I immediately thought: 'I know this character, I know this world of mother and son'. So that's what drew me to this."
What do you make of the current challenges facing soaps, including Hollyoaks going down to three episodes per week?
"I think the problem is not just with soaps but across the board, as the money has gone. But it isn't just that – when all the digital stuff and streaming came in, I thought: 'Now, what is everybody going to do next?'
"I feel for the soaps because they're very expensive to make. I went into Corrie when it was two episodes and then it went up to three. At the time, we all thought: 'That's too many. Far too many!' Now it's six. I always thought: 'How can you keep it up?'
"I think soap actors are amazing because of the pressure they work under. They literally are given a script, they learn it there and then, and then they perform it. So I think all of the soaps are amazing.
"When soaps aired three episodes a week, you had very good strong episodes. I think it was great but that was the world I knew. This world of six where you're jumping from one thing to another, and you've always got episodes coming, I never could see how that would be a good idea.
"It's worked for a long time but I think we've come to a point now where things have changed money-wise and streaming-wise, and with the way people watch television.
"I don't really know what will happen. I think everybody has to come to terms with what we've got and how people watch television. But do you know what? It will evolve, it will change, it will carry on and it will be as good as it ever was. It's just that we're in a time of change, but everybody knows that.
"I'm old enough to have been there when other things have turned around and changed. It always comes back. Everybody finds a solution to it and everybody finds a way of making it work.
"We're just in that transition period now where everybody's going: 'What's going to happen next?' Everybody's got to trust that it'll work. These soaps and the actors in them are amazing, so it's got to stay and be strong again. I totally and utterly believe in it."
Hollyoaks streams first online via Channel 4 each weekday at 7.30pm. Episodes then air on E4 the following day, before getting their YouTube premiere a week after that.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage.
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