Scott Drinkwell (Ross Adams)

[Perdita]

Hollyoaks bosses have cast a troublesome new relative for the O'Connor family, Digital Spy can exclusively confirm.

Actor Ross Adams has been cast in the role of Scott Drinkwell, a cousin of Sinead who will be causing mischief when he arrives in the village next month.

Ross Adams as Scott Drinkwell in Hollyoaks
© Lime Pictures
Ross Adams as Scott Drinkwell

Scott is gay and will become the playful devil on Sinead's shoulder once he settles into life in Chester.

The newcomer's antics will cause further problems for the already-complicated situation between Sinead, Ste Hay and John Paul McQueen. Sinead is currently expecting Ste's baby, which has caused tension for the chef's marriage to John Paul.

While Scott isn't malicious, he is keen to see his cousin happy and may not always find the best way of making that happen.

Scott will be a new regular character for Hollyoaks and his first scenes will air at the end of April.

Adams has a number of previous acting credits, most notably the role of Jeff in BBC Three's The Gemma Factor, which earned him a nomination for an RTS Award.

He is also no stranger to the soap world as he recently had a stint as a storyliner on ITV's Emmerdale and is still currently being credited on-screen for his work on the show's recent episodes.

[lizann]

another gay in the village, ste will have him soon so

[Perdita]

Hollyoaks newcomer Scott Drinkwell looks set to ruffle feathers over the coming weeks, but actor Ross Adams has promised that his character is a good guy at heart.

Adams made his first appearance as Scott in Friday's E4 first look episode (April 24), which saw the confident new arrival apply for a job at Hollyoaks High and reunite with his cousin Sinead Roscoe.

It was recently revealed that Scott will be causing trouble between Ste Hay and John Paul McQueen in his first storyline, but Adams is insisting that his meddling alter ego won't be a villain.

Speaking to Hollyoaks' official website, the actor explained: "Scott is really funny and he's also a little bit mischievous as well, so he's going to set the cat amongst the pigeons between John Paul and Ste.

"He comes across sometimes as being a little bit catty and a bit vicious maybe, but he's not. Underneath all that, he's got a really good heart and ultimately he just cares about Sinead because Sinead's his cousin."

Scott shows Sinead the photos
© Lime Pictures
Scott will be fiercely protective over Sinead

Scott's first episode saw Patrick Blake turn him away without a proper interview after he applied to become the headteacher's PA, but his luck will soon change as he ultimately gets the job.

Adams added: "He gets a job working as Patrick's PA, but I don't think he's going to be all that good at it, because he's not the kind of guy who seems very organised to me!

"He comes in and he ends up living in Diane's flat with Sinead, but how long will he stay there for and what trouble will he cause when he's there? I guess you're going to have to watch and find out!"

[lizann]

he needs to lay off fake tan he would be right in place in essex or geordie shore

[Perdita]

Hollyoaks joker Scott Drinkwell is back to his outrageous best this week - literally clowning around in an attempt to drum up fresh interest in his family's struggling restaurant business.

Once the cameras stop rolling, though, Ross Adams - who plays Scott - is no fool. He joined the cast of Hollyoaks in 2015 after several years of working both on screen and off in the TV industry. So a year on from his Hollyoaks debut, Digital Spy thought it was high time to get to know him a bit better...

It must be nice to be back in the show and busy again!

"I'm so glad. When Stephanie Davis left the show, I naturally worried about my own future in it because I'd been brought in as the cousin of her character Sinead. I thought that perhaps it could all go wrong for me, but thankfully it didn't.

"Myself and Alex Fletcher [who plays Sinead's mum Diane] both had some time off, but then we were like big kids back at school when we came back to work. I loved working with Steph and having that double act with her, but what's been nice since going back is that I'm getting more stories of my own. The audience will maybe see a different side to Scott now."

Have reactions to Scott changed over time?

"I think it's always really difficult for a new character coming into the show. When I first joined, I received a lot of hate. The reaction on Twitter was fairly negative and that was really hard for me to read. But what's been lovely about coming back is that I feel the audience have missed Scott a little bit. I've been overwhelmed by the nice response that I've had and it's made me feel a bit better."

Scott is being played for a fool by newcomer James Nightingale at the moment. Would you like him to find love with someone a bit more suitable?

"Definitely. The thing about Scott is that he's had quite a troubled upbringing, which is something that we'll touch on soon. As a result of that, he had a difficult time at school. For all of his bluster, camp innuendo and OTT humour, he's quite a vulnerable person underneath it all.

"It'd just be lovely if Scott could find somebody to share his life with. I'm not even sure if he's had any serious relationships before, so I think it's about time that he found somebody nice who he could have a laugh with. I'd also love to see that dynamic of Scott as part of a couple."

How do you feel about Scott's crazier moments? He's already kidnapped a child and poisoned Diane...

"When I read those scripts, I was pretty worried. I thought: 'Oh God, is he turning into a real baddie?' But Scott doesn't do these things with any malice. He just does things in the moment that he thinks will help the situation, but invariably it always goes wrong.

"For example, when Scott poisoned Diane, he didn't do it with the intention of hurting or killing her. He just did it so that she'd feel unwell enough that she'd need him to look after her. All he wanted was to feel needed and loved. Now that I know a bit more about his backstory, I totally buy that."

Before Hollyoaks, we know that you worked as a PA to the Coronation Street producer and later as a storyliner on Emmerdale. Was it always your ambition to act in a soap yourself, though?

"My background was in acting even before all that. I graduated when I was 21 and I had a good 5 or 6 years where I worked solidly. I did loads of telly, including being the lead in a comedy series for BBC Three [The Gemma Factor, 2010]. I was nominated for an RTS Award for Best Comedy Performance and thought I was really on my way at that point.

"But then I moved to a London agency which had some really big people on the books, and I was just this small actor from the north. I kind of got overlooked really, so I sat for 18 months and did absolutely nothing."

"I still had ambitions to buy a house and pay the mortgage. When I was a student doing performing arts, I'd worked as a runner at Granada Television, so I decided to go back and see if there were any jobs going there. It turned out that the Corrie producer's PA was going off on holiday for two weeks, so I was able to step in as a cover.

"The existing PA only ended up coming back to work for another couple of weeks after that because he was offered another job, so the position was open permanently. It was [former Coronation Street producer] Phil Collinson who said, 'Why don't you apply for it and if you get any auditions, just use your annual leave to go to them'. So that's what I did for 18 months."

How was your experience at Emmerdale?

"I started out as a storyliner there and then became a script editor. I was there for 18 months before the call came for Hollyoaks. While I was there, I wrote a lot of Belle's storyline where she was suffering from psychosis. I also worked on a lot of the Debbie and Pete story, in the early days when they were first getting together.

"I also pitched some crazy ideas - one of them was to bring back Kim Tate! This was before Claire King went to Coronation Street. They didn't go with it in the end, but maybe it's a good job they didn't or Claire wouldn't have ended up in Corrie."

But since joining Hollyoaks, it sounds like you've never looked back...

"Absolutely. I've been here for 13 months now, but I can honestly say that I never, ever dread coming into work. I love it because every day is different and the people are lovely. It sounds really cliched and boring, but it is like a real family here at Hollyoaks. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and say: 'This is my job now'. It feels bonkers but amazing as well."

​Scott tells Tony he's going to be a children's entertainer.
© Lime Pictures
As you have a storylining background, do you ever pitch ideas for Scott?

"I haven't yet. That's been a deliberate choice for me, because I felt like I didn't want to start throwing any weight around by sharing ideas for the character. I'm always very honest when we have long-term meetings with the producers and I'm not afraid to give my opinion, but I've never, ever pitched a story for myself.

"I've also got so much faith in our story office and our writers anyway, so I kind of feel like I should let them get on with it."

'Out and proud' gay characters like Scott and Coronation Street's Sean Tully can come in for a lot of stick. Do you think it's important for those characters to be represented in soaps, though?

"I do - absolutely. I'm not sure why that does happen. Perhaps it's because the audience take a while to warm up to new characters anyway, so if you're playing someone who is larger than life and flamboyant, that can polarise opinion.

"Characters like Scott and Sean Tully are of a similar ilk because they are more camp, but I do think that it's important for those types of gay characters to be represented. Recently we've had an awful lot of gay characters in soaps who are very 'straight-acting', if you like. Amongst all that, the camper gay characters got lost a little bit.

"Hollyoaks is probably the most LGBT-friendly show anyway. But I think it's good that here we have gay characters who are more straight-acting like John Paul and Ste, but then we also have a character like Scott who is camp and silly. Just as there are different types of straight people, there are different types of gay people as well."

We know you're still friends with Steph Davis. Has it been difficult to see her receive so much negative attention recently?

"Yeah, it has. The thing that I loved about Steph was that she was so warm and welcoming when I joined the show last year. I'll always remember that and be grateful.

"If any of your friends get a bit of a bashing, whether it's in the press or anywhere else, it's always difficult to hear that. But Steph is a strong girl and I'm sure that she'll sort things out. I hope she does because I do love her."


Digital Spy

[Perdita]

Scott Drinkwell is going to be a rather "naughty boy" in upcoming episodes as he gets involved in an identity theft storyline on Hollyoaks.

Star Ross Adams has revealed what's coming up for his character, and it looks like James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan) is going to be caught up at the wrong end of it all.

"It's not like him, because he's normally quite a goodie," Ross revealed in a new video. "But he makes a very silly decision, and he decides to steal James Nightingale's identity. Quite serious."


He explained: "[Scott] takes out a platinum credit card and he decides to start spending loads of money on it, and one of the first things that he buys are loads of fancy dress things for a mermaid party. Of course it is, because that's what Scott does."

However, this is not the first time that Scott has crossed paths with James in recent weeks either, as over Christmas he tried to split James up from John Paul McQueen (James Sutton).


Scott and John Paul had a brief relationship last year, though Scott is clearly not over the tear-filled ending.

After an argument between James and John Paul, Scott used the chance to try and sabotage things further by later deleting a reconciliation text. However, it later failed to make any impact during a Christmas dinner as James promised to try harder for John Paul and his son Matthew in the future.

Ste Hay spray-tans Scott Drinkwell in Hollyoaks
© LIME PICTURES
Alongside this new identity theft storyline, Scott will also have something to look forward to in the arrival of his cousin Lily Drinkwell (played by new cast member Lauren McQueen) who arrives in Hollyoaks this week with her aunt Diane Hutchinson.

"Lily might look like the typical kind-hearted, butter-wouldn't-melt young teen, but she's actually one serious tough cookie," Lauren said of her character. "She's fiercely independent and something of a mini-superhero to the less popular kids at school.

"She's cousins to Scott and they couldn't be any closer - total bessies."

Digital Spy

[lizann]

is diane his real mam or someone else in hollyoaks

[lizann]

obvious he gets with james

[lizann]

heartbreaking his depression and suicide storyline, good on the show for airing it, well acted by all

[lizann]

is maggie being genuine or setting scott up for her murder