Hollyoaks will air another dramatic week for Ste Hay next week as he is confronted over his ongoing drug issues and finds himself back in the frame for Fraser Black's murder.

Digital Spy this week caught up with Kieron Richardson, who plays Ste, to hear all the gossip on what's in store.

Are you pleased with the viewer response to Ste's drugs storyline so far?
"I'm really pleased with it. It's nice to get any reaction when you do a storyline, but the fact that it's been so positive has been great. Personally I want to push the storyline even more because I think we can go even further with it, so it's exciting to see what the future holds.

"I think the audience like Ste when he's down, dirty, depressed and his life's a mess! The further we can take it down that road, the better."

Are you hoping the writers take their time in exploring the story?
"I hope so. The beauty of playing a character like Ste is that he never just has his own little story. He's got connections with so many people in the village, so he's always delving in and out of other storylines while having his own as well.

"It's nice to see Ste in his own state while still trying to help his friends like Tony. I like that the storyline continues but Ste flips into other people's stuff too."

Why would you say Ste has turned to drugs?
"In the past Ste has tried to go down the straight and narrow by being sensible, and he's also tried to be dodgy by getting into dealings with Freddie. The only answer to him right now is taking drugs to numb everything he's going through after having so many disasters in his life. I think it was inevitable that this would happen eventually."

Ste starts getting involved with John Paul again. How does that come about?
"The McQueens are going through trouble with their accommodation, so they end up descending on the boarding house where Ste lives. Ste is depressed, drinking and on drugs, so he really doesn't want to be putting up with Mercedes and Nana McQueen!

"Ste doesn't want anything to do with John Paul at this point either. Ste thinks that John Paul isn't interested and that nothing he does is good enough, as John Paul seems like this high and mighty professional. It also doesn't help that Ste has a massive hangover on the day they all show up!"

But then Nana McQueen plays matchmaker…
"Yes - I love Nana McQueen's character and she's one of my favourites in the show, so the fact that I got to work with Diane Langton who plays her is fantastic. Nana is the one who tells Ste that he is good enough for her grandson, but he needs to pull his socks up and show John Paul that he loves him. Nana is the thing that pulls them together."

Danny is also hoping to get back with John Paul at this point. Does Ste realise he might have competition?
"Ste knows about their past and it's always been in the back of his head. There's one moment where Ste decides to express his feelings for John Paul and sort himself out, but at that point he sees John Paul and Danny looking friendly. Ste thinks it's a romantic thing, but they're actually just going for a coffee as friends. Ste reads far too much into it!"

John Paul and Danny team up to confront Ste over his drug-taking. What happens?
"Ste is babysitting Matthew for John Paul. John Paul thinks it's great that Ste is showing responsibility and seems to be going down the right track now. It's not until John Paul is tidying Matthew's stuff away that he sees some cocaine in Ste's bedroom. John Paul can't believe it, but Ste insists that he hasn't taken anything - he'd just hidden the drugs away so that Matthew wouldn't find them.

"In the end Ste decides that if John Paul doesn't trust him, he might as well go off and do drugs anyway. John Paul and Danny decide to lock Ste in his bedroom, but he jumps out the window!"

When John Paul catches up with Ste, he finally reveals that he kept him out of the frame for Fraser's murder by hiding the gun. How does Ste react?
"That's another massive shock for Ste. At this point, Ste thinks that he's completely innocent and had nothing to do with killing Fraser, because John Paul lied to him. Ste's surprised when he hears that he did have the gun and John Paul found it and buried it to protect him. It was a massive thing for John Paul to do to make sure that Ste's name was cleared.

"Through all of this happening, the mystery of who killed Fraser comes to the forefront of the show again - and Ste is right in the firing line."

What happens next?
"Ste and John Paul are having a heated conversation, but they realise that somebody has been listening to everything they've been saying - including where the gun is buried. When they get there, the gun is gone and they're left to wonder who overheard the conversation…"

Are you glad that Ste has found a new love interest?
"Ste's been in quite a lot of big love stories in the show, so it's always been about him being in love and then getting his heart broken. It's nice that we've had a period where we've done other things, like the storyline with Pauline last year and the drugs story now.

"The story with John Paul hasn't been an overnight thing. They've had one kiss months ago and that's it so far. It's nice that it hasn't all been about Ste being in a relationship and there's other things involved.

"It just so happens that Ste has got a lot of love to give and the person in his eyeline right now is John Paul. He does have genuine feelings for him, and it would seem that John Paul has feelings for Ste too.

"These two unlikely people who you would never put together do have something there, but because of things getting in the way, there's still a lot they have to work out - so it's a case of will they or won't they ever get together?"