Hollyoaks star Ashley Taylor Dawson is optimistic that Darren Osborne will forgive wife Nancy over her betrayal with Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard) if she pulls through after the plane crash.
Nancy, as viewers know, dropped a whopper of a bombshell on husband Darren earlier this year when she informed him that he was not the biological father of their four-year-old daughter Morgan.
The betrayal was made much worse when she revealed that Morgan’s dad is none other than his best mate Tony, with she and the pub landlord having secretly slept together four years prior.
‘I was quite shocked!,’ said star Jessica Fox when asked what she made of the twist. ‘Because I was there the first time around and I don’t remember it happening [laughs].
‘I did say I think there should be a statute of limitations for how long you’ve known someone so you don’t have to kiss them,’ she laughed. ‘But Nick [Pickard, who plays Tony] was an absolute professional and in some ways it was nice to have a different leading man for one scene!’
The discovery of Nance’s betrayal left Darren devastated, so much so that he not only destroyed Tony’s wedding to Diane (Alex Fletcher) by spilling the beans after the couple said I Do, but he also put out a hit on his former partner in crime.
And in emotional scenes on Tuesday (October 21), Darren point blank refused to forgive Nancy for the betrayal, branding her a ‘cheat with a love child’.
It certainly looked like there was no hope of a reunion. However, the situation was made much worse when tragedy stuck soon afterwards, with Nancy caught up in the blast that exploded at the Love Boat and through the alleyway out the back of The Dog where she was standing.
Darren swiftly swooped into action, apologising to his wife for what he said as he urged her to be okay. It’s touch and go at the moment, with Nancy’s fate currently hanging in the balance.
But if she pulls through, is it possible that Darren could get over the betrayal? Star Ashley certainly reckons so, especially given the magnitude of mistakes Darren has made in the past.
‘Darren is the contradiction of all contradictions,’ he told us. ‘There’s been so many times [he’s done things badly] but the thing is: Nancy has always been this perfect partner.
‘She never really did anything wrong and it’s always Darren that had to apologise so I do think it’s nice to show the flaws in that and in the relationship – things like this might go wrong and it’s something they will have to remember.
‘But Nancy and Darren are inseparable – and that’s the beauty of it. They try to do the right thing for each other… eventually! I mean, it’s hilarious how quickly people forgive and forget in our show but that’s the beauty of it.’
Ashley added that working with Jess all these years has allowed them to develop a ‘rhythm’.
‘We know what we’re doing – the little nuances, everything that we do,’ he said with a smile. ‘We have Jimmy [McKenna, who plays Jack] and the family and then we go outside that house – and it’s a great cast at the moment.
‘This probably comes up in every interview that you do but it is like a massive family. And that’s why we stay there and that’s why we enjoy it. The people are incredible. That’s how we get through it.’
On her working relationship with Ash, Jessica added: ‘I don’t think we do very well [apart] which is why we end up back together every time!’.
Hollyoaks streams Mondays to Wednesdays from 6am on Channel 4’s streaming platform, or catch episodes on TV at 7pm on E4.
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