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Coronation Street’s Claire Sweeney replaced in huge role by Hollyoaks star – and gives her blessing
The actress filmed the first series before joining Coronation Street
HOLLYOAKS star Ross Adams has revealed that he’s replaced Claire Sweeney for the third series of Channel 5 smash-hit murder mystery The Good Ship Murder - and she’s given him her blessing.
Ross, 40, was brought in for series two after Claire, 53, joined ITV soap Coronation Street, and was unable to continue in her role as the ship’s entertainment director Beverley Carnell.
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But now, he has revealed that he will be flying out to Malta this spring to film series three, with bosses hoping that Claire might return in the future.
In an exclusive interview, Ross, who plays new entertainment director Colin Smallwood, said: “Claire has been absolutely amazing, I did worry that I would be stepping on her toes, but she’s been brilliant.
“When I first got out to Malta to take over the role they were filming the Christmas special and Claire was there.
“She came over straight away and gave me a massive hug, she was so warm and friendly and told me that I was going to have the best time which really put me at ease.
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“She did the Christmas special and then had to go straight back to Corrie. We’re still in touch and are planning on going for dinner soon.
“She’s very busy with Corrie so at the moment she won’t be back for the third series. We’re due to start filming in the Spring.
“The majority of the filming happens in Malta and then we go out on the ship for three weeks cruising around the Mediterranean, which is just incredible.”
Soap king Ross, who worked behind the scenes at both Coronation Street and Emmerdale before hitting our screens as loveable Scott Drinkwell in Hollyoaks, also teased a romance for his character.
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Later in the series a guest role from Emmerdale legend Matthew Wolfenden will see the pair enjoy a passionate smooch.
Lifting the lid on their snog, Ross said: “I always find kissing scenes really bizarre and always feel like I’m cheating on my husband!
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“There’s no other job where you get to kiss other people, it’s so weird. I knew of Matthew when I was at Emmerdale but I’d never really worked with him.
“When I met him, do you know what, he was really nervous. He was David in Emmerdale for like 18 years, and I knew how I felt coming in having done nearly ten years at Hollyoaks, so I sent him a little message on Instagram about going for dinner.
“And then I saw him in make-up the next day. I asked how he was doing and he said he was really nervous.
“We filmed together on the ship’s deck, which is full of real life holiday makers with standing in the sidelines with their camera phones.
“People were saying ‘Oh look it’s David from Emmerdale and Scott from Hollyoaks’ and then the kissing scene was near the end of the shoot and the actual snog was the last scene of the day and we wanted to get it done in one take and we did it!
“He was such a nice guy.”
Ross admits that landing the role so soon after his Hollyoaks departure was a dream come true because he’d been so terrified about the what the future would hold.
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He said: “Genuinely, I feel like Jane McDonald. I love a good cruise! We’ve been on so many over the years. Of course it was terrifying coming out if Hollyoaks, am I going to get another job?
“I felt like I was coming out at the worst possible time because nothing was being commissioned or made.
“I’d been there for nearly ten years, and I loved it, I loved the people there. I remember coming home and just thinking, am I doing the right thing? It was genuinely one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to do but now I feel it was the right thing for me, and that’s nothing against Hollyoaks or soap, I was just ready to spread my wings.
“And I love that Good Ship is bringing the sunshine in dreary January! I’m based in Manchester and it’s grey, and drizzling with rain.
“The Good Ship is an hour of sunshine and giggles and silliness and I think that’s what people need, it’s pure escapism.
“And obviously you get to see Shayne Ward sing at the end of every episode.”
The show, which stars former on-screen Corrie couple Shayne Ward, 40, and Catherine Tyldesley, 41, features a number of different guest stars each week.
But there’s only one person Ross wants to get on the ship - his hero Jane McDonald.
He said: “I’m obsessed with her as everyone knows. Even if she came on for a little cameo and did a duet with Shayne I could be a backing singer.”
Ross started his soap career at Coronation Street as an assistant to the series producer before moving over to Emmerdale to work in the storyline team.
And although soaps are having a tough time at the moment, he believes that it’s down to viewing habits having changed and that they are still so valuable with the stories that they tell.
He said: “Soap in general at the moment is going through a really tough time. I actually really feel for the actors when there’s so much noise and negativity around them.
“Here’s the bottom line, everyone is watching tele differently these days, and I think soaps aren’t pulling in the audiences that they used to pull in.
“There will always be a need for soaps, the stories that they tell and the issues that they put forward to the nation, they are so valuable.
“These stories educate, and soaps are a big part of British culture. But everything evolves and everything changes, I can only speak of being at Hollyoaks when they announced that we were going down to three episodes, from five, and shortening the episodes, it effects everyone, the crew, the job losses, and I think it must be awful, in a way at least Hollyoaks has done that now and the people that are there can kind of continue knowing what’s happened.
“I think when there’s so much noise at the other soaps ‘Oooh maybe Corrie should reduce their output’ or this and that, for people who work there it must just be awful to hear, they must be worried sick about their jobs. I know people think that as actors this is what we’ve signed up for and also, there are people there who have given decades of their life to the show, it’s no different if you worked in any other industry. If you work somewhere for a long time it becomes your family. If people lose their job, they lose their family.”
He added: “Also a part of me thinks that there is not this big crisis there’s just a lot of noise because soap in general just sin’t getting the viewers it once did and I think that could be why soap people are saying soaps are failing when in actual fact it’s not, people are watching soap very differently.
“In my family we would sit down at 7.30pm, everything would stop, you would watch Corrie and when it finished you would get your bath and go to bed.
“But people are now watching when they want on ITVX, it’s just different and it’s about evolving with the changes but it does feel strange for people of my generation, who have grown up watching television a certain way.”
As he prepares to head off to the sunshine this spring to film the third series of The Good Ship Murder Ross has been busy writing his own TV drama.
He is also hoping to do some presenting.
He said: “I love writing. I’ve got a little TV drama idea and I’ve written a treatment and I’ve almost finished the first episode.
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“It’s thriller but also set partially abroad. I’ve aways written and have written for soaps, so I’m going to do that and see what happens with that. I am also hoping to do a little bit of presenting.
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“It would be nice to do something as me. I’d be well up for doing something like Strictly, although I’d be absolutely rubbish in the Jungle. But I do think the world needs to see my Pasodoble.”
- The second series of The Good Ship Murder, continues tonight on Channel 5 at 9pm
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