Niall saves Michaela's life in Hollyoaks... but Barry Sloane reveals it's him who nearly kills her in the first place! We see that Niall has picked his first victim in his secret revenge on the McQueens... "He is. He says it's his birthday – I don't know if it is or not – and Myra, who still has no idea she's his mum, throws a party. He sees a chance to do some damage and takes it." What he does is quite sinister, isn't it? "He gets Michaela drunk then when she's passed out on her bed he injects her with heroin! She loses consciousness and she's in a bad way..." Does she die? "No. The family go to bits but Niall comes over all caring about her and rushes her to hospital." So, he actually saves her? What was the purpose of the drugs then? "He wants it to look like Michaela has a major drug problem. The family know she smokes weed so it's relatively easy for them to think she's now on harder drugs. Myra falls for it anyway." How does Michaela end up living with Niall afterwards? "Once she's out of hospital Niall persuades Myra to let Michaela stay with him. He tells Myra it's for the best as he'll be able to keep an eye on her." Does he intend to feed her more drugs? "Quite possibly. Niall's kind of thinking on his feet. He doesn't know what he's going to do until the next opportunity presents itself." Why doesn't he just go all out to hurt Myra rather than involving his sisters? "That’s a weird one. He desperately wants to hurt Myra to get back at her for abandoning him when he was a baby but he's also revelling in all the attention she's giving him. She's acting like he's her rock and he quite likes that..." But Niall does seem to like his sisters... "He genuinely does like them but he has this Jekyll and Hyde thing going on. He can be extremely charming and caring but his other side is ice cold and dangerous." Who'll be his next victim? "I don't think he knows. He doesn't have a master plan and he isn't really thinking ahead. He's just taking the opportunites as they come along." When's he going to tell Myra who he really is? "The storyline has some way to run. Who knows? He may find his nice side gets the better of his horrible side and he can't go through with his campaign because he's become so fond of Myra and his sisters. But on the other hand..."
