Hollyoaks’ Grace Black was threatened with the axe by Channel 4 bosses reveals Tamara Wall

HOLLYOAKS’ Grace Black was threatened with the axe by Channel 4 bosses, actress Tamara Wall has revealed. 

Just months after Hollyoaks star Tamara Wall joined the Channel 4 soap in 2013 as Grace Black, she was called into meetings to help save the character from getting the chop. 

Tamara was cast as Grace in late 2013 and was introduced as Clare Devine's even-more-evil sister. 

Unfortunately, her early gangster-focused storylines proved unpopular with viewers.

Speaking on Hollyoaks podcast The Dog In The Pond – hosted by former cast member Kelly Condron – Tamara admitted that Grace could have been written out. 

The 42-year-old actress explained: “If you look at me then, I was always dressed in black leather, never smiled, never laughed. I

“I thought I was doing the best job in the world – being this evil person and going around being horrible to people.

"I remember getting a phone call from Bryan one night saying: 'I'm going to be really straight with you. I'm worried that if we don't change your character, we're going to have to lose her'.

"He phoned me up, apologised and literally said that Channel 4 – at the end of the day, the people at Channel 4 have the last say on everything – Channel 4 had said: 'This is not going to work'.

"Bryan, being Bryan – who is honestly one of the most talented, conscientious people I've ever met in my life – rather than say 'we'll get rid of her and change things up', he brought me in for a workshop.

"I'd only been there for six or seven months. We literally hammered out all these ideas."

After intense discussions with Bryan and the Hollyoaks writers, the team worked on exploring softer and more comical aspects of Grace.

They also changed her style, with bigger hair and more colourful outfits.

Speaking on the podcast, Tamara laughed recalling a particular scene: "Literally I walked out of Price Slice one day with this giant hair on. I go up to the card machine with Jazz [Franks] who plays Esther and she's going: 'What have you done to your hair?' I say: 'I don't know, I just fancied a change'. All of a sudden, Grace was born."