My heart, like those of the nation, still hurts over the death of Hollyoaks icon Grace Black, who was accidentally shot by her own sister Clare Devine (Gemma Bissix), before passing away after making amends with son Rex (Jonny Labey).
To ease my pain, I caught up with Tamara, who was in fabulous spirits on a visit to the set to say her goodbyes and full of praise for the cast, crew, and most importantly the fans.
She also set the record straight on recent claims that she quit the role due to nasty comments online, while looking to the future where she’d love to explore more comedy and more West End roles.
Given Grace’s hilarious one-liners and meme-able facial expressions over the year, I think it’s a given that Tamara is made for sitcoms and comedy shows.
I was lucky enough to share the room with her when the episodes were screened and I felt a tinge in my cold, hard soul when I saw a tearful Tamara embracing her equally emotional cast mates.
So how was it seeing the moment of her own death?
The actress told me for Metro: ‘I had all my cast around me – I was crying, they were crying.
‘But hearing the gasps from the audience in attendance, I was so pleased that we managed to keep it a secret. Normally something like that gets leaked.
‘That’s the best thing, the gasps and the shocks. It’s nice to know Grace was still loved even after doing something so awful.
‘At the end of the day, she could’ve ended up in prison. I think Grace would’ve rather have died than gone to prison. You could see that she was remorseful for a while before that. She felt like what she had done was wrong.’
Despite understandably having fans turn on the character during an exploitation story, Tamara is the first to agree that viewers were right to be angry with Grace.
But over 12 years, and at the end, Grace was still loved by audience, and Tamara admits to being overwhelmed by fan reactions throughout her time on the show, but particularly on social media after that gutting death scene.
‘There was so much love. I actually went back to the hotel early, I was a bit overwhelmed with the whole thing!
‘I cannot thank the fans enough for loving me as much as they have, for as long as they have. I never expected Grace to survive this long!’
Reports have swirled that Tamara quit the show due to negativity on social media, but she wanted to set the record straight on this, telling me that this was not the reason at all for the exit, and she totally understood why fans were upset with Grace.
‘I would like to say that I didn’t say I left because of bad tweets, that’s not why I left, she insisted. ‘The fact they put bad tweets about Grace was correct, because Grace had done something pretty awful.
‘I think there was just no redemption for her as a character. I didn’t want her to go to prison, I wanted the big dramatic exit, and I think I got that.’
There’s no bigger exit than a death in the 30th anniversary – but the family at Hollyoaks haven’t seen the last of Tamara as she vows to stay in touch.
‘I’ve made friends for life!’ she said. ‘Everyone always says it, but it is like a family. We film on a single camera so everyone – cast and crew- is on set all the time, it is like a team effort.
‘You are with these people 12 hours a day. I keep finding reasons to come back to the set like “oh dear, I’ve forgot a shoe!” They can’t get rid of me that easily!’
Tamara loved playing all facets to Grace from the evil to the comedy. And it’s making people laugh that she’d like to try next. But she would also thrive in a return to treading the boards.
‘Grace was a baddie but also she was funny, there was loads of comedy stuff. She had romances as well, you saw her vulnerability, as an actress I really lucked out.
‘I liked it when she was funny. I love doing comedy, that is one thing I would love to do next, it’s completely different from this. I would love to be in Motherland or something like that.
‘I think I’ll go straight into auditions! You’ve got to enjoy the fact there’s talk about you, and you’ve exited a show in such a great way. I’m going to get straight back out there.
‘I’d love to go back to the West End. I’ve missed being on stage. It’s instant gratification being on the stage.’
