As Mitchell Deveraux struggles with his feelings for Scott Drinkwell's alter ego, Anita Tinkle, events take a very dramatic turn next week. Here Hollyoaks star Imran Adams who plays Mitchell, tells us more....
Since arriving in Hollyoaks earlier this year, Mitchell Deveraux played by Imran Adams, has proved a big hit with fans and his relationship blossoming with Cleo McQueen (Nadine Mulkerrin) has been a joy to watch.
However, recently junior doctor Mitchell has had his head well and truly turned by Scott Mitchell's super-glam alter-ego, Anita Tinkle. A conflicted Mitchell has found himself increasingly attracted to Anita (played by Ross Adams) and, with the intense chemistry sizzling between them, the pair have been struggling to keep their hands off eachother.
Next week things come to a head when a rejected Scott, fed up with being Mitchell's 'dirty little secret,' takes matters into his own hands and gets ready to tell Cleo exactly what has been going on with her boyfriend behind her back!
Here actor Imran tells us how things escalate and why Mitchell soon finds himself in a terrible situation involving his domineering and super-strict grandfather, Walter (Trevor A Toussaint)....
Hollyoaks star Imran Adams on his dramatic love triangle storyline
Next week on Hollyoaks, Mitchell asks Cleo to move in with him, why does his Grandad Walter disapprove of this?
Walter is extremely religious, and he takes the Bible literally. He believes in doctrine and he’s very strict. He doesn’t believe that a man and a woman, who are not married, should cohabitate.
Why do Walter’s opinions hold such much value to Mitchell?
Walter raised Mitchell, and he has always been a father figure to him. Even though there is an element of fear, because he’s the authority figure, Mitchell loves and respects him. It’s very common in the African Caribbean community to respect your elders and Mitchell, regardless of all the mistakes he’s made, is definitely a man of principals and integrity and that hasn’t changed.
Does Mitchell want to move in with Cleo, or is he using this as a way to prove to a point to Scott, that he's not interested?
Moving in with Cleo means he’s further away from who he truly is. He believes that if he moves in with Cleo, then all aspects of himself that he’s hidden will disappear like it always has in his life. He’s still in love with Cleo and that hasn’t changed. That's the reason for his conflict as well as conflict coming from his grandfather and society.
Next week, Scott almost reveals to Cleo his secret fling with Mitchell, how does he do that?
Scott decides to put a note under Cleo’s door, which says, 'Your boyfriend is a liar!' and obviously when Cleo finds it she wants to know who sent it and what’s going on. Scott does it because he's hurt and because he is falling for Mitchell. They were becoming very close friends and that then led to something else but the love that they have for each other is making them make decisions that they wouldn’t normally make and which are quite out of character for them.
What happens when Cleo drags Mitchell to see Anita Tinkle perform at The Dog’s dance off?
Mitchell and Scott end up dancing together at the pub. When they’re together, the whole world disappears. This is a sign to Mitchell that his feelings for Scott are much deeper than he previously hoped for.
Is he worried that people will notice the chemistry between the two of them?
It’s in The Dog, so Mitchell is very scared that people are going to notice his demeanour change but he’s in the moment and he’s not thinking about anything. When the music stops and the dance is over, his fear comes in. Once again Mitchell runs away from himself.
Later we see Mitchell ignore Walter’s call to be with Anita, how significant is this?
This is deeply significant to Mitchell. He always has his phone on him just in case of family emergencies and in this situation there is a family emergency and Mitchell isn’t there. This is the first time it’s happened and because Mitchell feels so much guilt and confusion, he turns nasty and his internal homophobia shows. I want the audience to see the nastiness and negativity of homophobia. He becomes someone totally different, and that’s what homophobia does to people.
You took part in Hollyoaks’ weekly Don’t Filter Feeling’s podcast, the episode was centred on drag queens, can you tell us a bit about that?
It was awesome, Cheddar Gorgeous is an amazing human being and so forthcoming about drag artists and what they mean, not only to the LGBT community, but everybody. I was able to give my take and also be more aware of how important this storyline is to everybody. It’s never a good idea to hide aspects of yourself just to try and please anybody.
To listen to the podcast click on this link
How was it meeting Cheddar Gorgeous?
It was great we just hit it off straight away. It was great to see somebody so confident in themselves and I hope that the storyline and the podcast inspires other people to be confident in who they truly are.
Hollyoaks is shown weekdays on C4 at 6.30pm with the next episode following on E4
