Former Hollyoaks star Ross Adams has made a welcome return to our screens this month with an exciting new role on Channel 5's The Good Ship Murder.
The actor has landed the role of cruise director Colin Smallwood on the crime drama, which stars Coronation Street favourites Shayne Ward and Catherine Tyldesley.
Ross signed up for the show last year, just weeks after making the tough decision to bow out as his long-running Hollyoaks character Scott Drinkwell.
Digital Spy recently caught up with Ross for an exclusive chat about his new role, his soap memories and future projects.
You don't hang about, Ross – did you ever imagine that you'd be back on screen so quickly after leaving Hollyoaks?
"I've been so lucky, because I didn't expect to get something as quickly as I did. So many of my friends and people I've worked with are out of work at the minute. It's a really tough time to be an actor, or even just generally to be in the industry as a freelancer, so I'm really grateful to have something.
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"Plus, it's such a bloody fun job! To be on a cruise ship in the sunshine – how lucky am I? I'm actually being paid to be there and that's crazy."
How did the role come about?
"When I made the decision to leave Hollyoaks, I reached out to some casting directors that I'd worked with before. Michelle Smith, who casts The Good Ship Murder, had given me some jobs when I was much younger and straight out of drama school.
"About three weeks after I emailed Michelle, she said that there was a potential part for me in the show and asked if I'd be willing to audition. I hadn't auditioned for anything for 10 years because I'd been busy in Hollyoaks. It's all self-tapes now, rather than attending an audition in person like I was used to, so it was all new to me."
How did things go from there?
"I really wanted to show that I could do this part, so I watched the first series and looked at the uniforms. This probably sounds so cringe, but I got on Amazon and I found epaulettes to put on my shirt for the self-tape! I even made my own name badge which looked like the ones they use on the show!
"My character Colin is the cruise director and introduces the entertainment on board, so I also wanted to show them a bit of glitz. I went into my wardrobe and raided the most outrageous jackets I could find – ones I'd wore for the Soap Awards years ago with sequins on.
"Part of me thinks they just watched this tape and took pity on me because of the lengths that I went to in this audition! (Laughs.) I thought maybe there'd be a recall, but they offered me the part on the back of that.
"It was really nice to know that I had something else coming up after Hollyoaks. When you leave a soap after a long time in one role, you do worry that people won't see you as someone different, so I feel really grateful to Michelle Smith and the team at Channel 5 for believing in me to do something else."
Did you know your new co-stars Shayne Ward and Catherine Tyldesley before joining?
"I used to work as the PA for the producer at Corrie, so years ago I'd go to the Soap Awards with Cath and organise her travel and all of that. Cath actually lives around the corner from me in Manchester as well, so I see her out and about anyway. It was really nice to reminisce with her about working at Granada Studios, back when Corrie was filmed there.
"Shayne I didn't know, because he wasn't at Corrie when I worked there, but I knew of him because of course he's with Sophie Austin who I used to work with on Hollyoaks. I'd met Shayne socially at a couple of different events, but I didn't know him as well as I knew Cath. As soon as I got there, though, they were so welcoming and friendly."
Were you nervous about taking on the role?
"I was probably a bit apprehensive because I've taken over a role from Claire Sweeney, who was the cruise director in series one. She came back for the Christmas special, but because she's now in Corrie, she couldn't commit to the second series.
"You do worry about going into an established show and being the new boy, but thankfully as soon as I got there, everybody was just lovely."
How would you describe your character Colin?
"Colin takes his job as cruise director very seriously. He's a bit of a try-hard, bless him, and he just wants to be liked. He's the king of the worst dad jokes you could ever imagine and he really tries to keep his ents team upbeat and happy, but not everybody has the same energy.
"Colin is like a puppy in some ways – he's just got so much boundless enthusiasm and not everybody can cope with it."
There are a lot more familiar soap faces in the series…
"Yes, Colin's best friend is Frankie, who's the head of security. She's played by Kiza Deen, who I also worked with in Hollyoaks.
"You'll see a couple of other familiar faces from Hollyoaks in this week's episode because Greg Wood, who played Trevor Royle in the show, has got a guest role. So has Nathan Sussex, who played Buster.
"It's so weird – we were all working in Malta and going for dinner and I was looking around the table thinking: 'God it's almost like we're back in Liverpool filming Hollyoaks'. Instead we were in the blazing sunshine of Malta!"
What else is coming up for Colin?
"Colin's got quite a big story later in the series, where the crime of the episode is that he gets scammed! He gets love-bombed by [former Emmerdale star] Matthew Wolfenden, who comes in to play a passenger on the ship.
"Matthew's character pretends to show a romantic interest in Colin and he falls for it hook, line and sinker. He believes they're going to be together, but Matthew's character just wants Colin for his money."
What was it like to film on a real-life working cruise ship?
"It was bonkers! The people on the ship weren't just extras – they were real holidaymakers who were there to have their cruise.
"We'd be walking round in our officers' uniforms, and so many people stopped us on the ship and asked us for directions or wanted to leave us feedback thinking we were employed by the cruise ship company! (Laughs.) It was understandable because we did look like real staff. Filming the show was unlike anything I've done before."
Have you had messages from Hollyoaks fans who've followed you over to the new show?
"I have and that's been really lovely. You never really know whether people will continue that journey once you're no longer playing that character. I'd hoped that people would and I've had loads of lovely messages from people who said they'd tuned in, they really liked Colin and were excited to see more from him."
Some fans were disappointed that Scott's Hollyoaks exit scene last year was done as a video call from Spain. How did that all come about?
"I'll be honest with you, it wouldn't have been the exit that I'd have chosen for him but I understood why they had to do it that way. By that point I was already busy filming The Good Ship Murder, so there was a very limited window where I could go back to Hollyoaks to shoot my exit.
"Initially the plan was that you'd see Scott have a celebration in The Dog and characters like Vicky and Aunty Di would be around. It was going to be a 'cheers to you, Scott', as he'd be surrounded by his family in The Dog and looking forward to the future.
"But when you're doing scenes in The Dog and it involves so many other characters, it can be difficult to secure everyone else's availability and get the set booked in a really limited timeframe, so they just couldn't make it work."
How did they approach it in the end?
"Initially they wanted me to record the FaceTime message myself from Malta and send it into them, but I didn't have any of Scott's costume with me.
"Also, I really wanted to go back and say goodbye to the lovely crew that I'd worked with for so long. Thankfully they made it work and I recorded the video message on the Chester wall on the Hollyoaks site!
"I was stood on a box and they just had sunshine and blue skies behind me, making it look like Scott was calling in from Spain. I had the full crew there and got to say goodbye to everybody. After filming that scene, I had to rush back to the house, pack and get on a plane back to Malta."
Do you miss Hollyoaks?
"I was ready to go, but I miss everyone there. I absolutely loved playing Scott and I felt he had an important role in the show. Soaps have come under a lot of criticism recently for their storylines being heavily crime-focused.
"Scott was quite useful as a character, because he brought some lightness and humour against the backdrop of those serious storylines. I miss that, but who knows what could happen in the future?
"I had the best time there and would never, ever speak badly of my time at Hollyoaks because it was amazing. I'm so thankful for it because it gave me a platform to do other jobs like the one I'm doing now. I'm really grateful to them."
Some cast also didn't get on-screen exits at all last year because there were so many departures, so we're glad we got to see Scott one last time!
"Yes, I'm grateful that I got an exit scene because some people didn't. I hope that in the future they can maybe flash back and we can see those characters' exits. I think that'd be nice closure for the audience.
"The problem they had was that there were so many people leaving, so a week of exits would have possibly been boring for the audience to watch. They had to tread a fine line, but it would be nice if those characters could somehow get an exit going forward."
Are you glad that your on-screen foster daughter Anya Lawrence (Vicky) is such a big part of the new Hollyoaks era?
"I absolutely adore her. I think she's super talented and I love her as a character. I think she's got so many facets to her personality.
"I remember that Anya first joined the show during COVID times. She was still being chaperoned by her mum because she was only 16. I just remember meeting her and thinking she had something really special. What makes her more special is that she's such a lovely person. I'm really glad to hear that she's smashing it."
What else is coming up for you?
"We go back out to Malta in nine weeks' time to film series three of The Good Ship Murder, but I haven't seen any scripts yet so I can't give you any spoilers!
"I've also been doing some writing, because that was my background before joining Hollyoaks. I've got quite an exciting five-part drama idea that I've pitched to some people and hopefully something will happen with that.
"I'll also be doing some presenting. I've got a camera test next week for a daytime show.
"So it's exciting still doing acting, still being creative with the writing but also trying to do some stuff as myself. After playing a character for so long, I'm excited for people to see who I am and not just as Scott."
The Good Ship Murder airs on Friday nights at 9pm on Channel 5.
