Phina Oruche- Hollyoaks interview

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Hollyoaks' rejuvenation starts here. Producer Paul Marquess's first signing Phina Oruche makes her screen debut during this evening's instalment as glamorous mum Gabby Sharpe. As Tony (Nick Pickard) searches for new houses in North Wales, he's shocked to witness Gabby being mown down by a speeding car. Unconscious and alone, Tony rushes to her side and calls for an ambulance. There's instant chemistry between the pair, but little does Tony know that Gabby has a family of her own. Here, Phina chats to DS about joining Hollyoaks, her character's arrival and Gabby's instant attraction to Tony.

How did you first hear about the part?
"I just received a general lovely phone call - 'Do you want to read for Hollyoaks?' Err, yeah! I rock up - script, read, smile, leave, script, read, cast! I'd never met [Paul Marquess] before I auditioned in front of him to be honest. He created [Footballers' Wives] but by the time I got there, he wasn't there anymore so it was like a nice connection but I don't know that one influenced the other."

He said that he loved what you did on Footballers' Wives...
"I've never heard him say that to me but I'm grateful - how nice is that? That's not a bad start, is it?!"

Were you flattered that you were the first person he cast?
"Flattered? That doesn't even say it! I was bowled over, excited, a little scared, elated... come on - it's such an honour. If someone has decided that as their stamp, the first person they bring in it's just an honour."

Are you excited to be part of the relaunch?
"I'm delighted. Excited beyond belief. It's great for me because it's like my relaunch as well. I went off and became a married baby-mama and all of that. It's my relaunch. I put my career on the backburner so it's perfect timing for me."

Knowing that the show hadn't been on top form, did you have any reservations about joining?
"I have every confidence in Paul. I don't agree with you that it hasn't been on top form but I think everything has a season. It's cyclical. There's a changeover. It's not my job to judge any place I'm going to be. It's my job to bring excellent work and try my hardest and fit in, bring laughs and tears and throw tantrums - on screen only of course! To be honest I was coming off maternity leave, I'd been wiping my child's behind - I would have worked in an ice cream van! Only kidding - but you know what I mean. I was delighted."

How would you describe Gabby?
"She wears her heart on her sleeve. She's a mum first and foremost and she's got her identity from being a mum. She's been married for a long time, she doesn't know her own strength yet. She's a quiet person - it's hard for me to play a quiet person but she's a quiet person (laughs) - she's strong and she's way classier than I'll ever be! She's not lairy like Liberty, falling down stairs or falling out of cabs. She's the opposite. She's quiet but there's a few surprises in store. I'm a mum now and you never know what you'll do to protect your children or where your strength will come from until you test it. She's a ma!"

How is she introduced?
"She's walking down the street minding her own business. She comes across Tony, he looks at her and says something to her but she doesn't answer him. He thinks she's rude - he looks back over his shoulder, probably thinking a four-letter word about her or something - and smash, bang, wallop she's on the floor. She gets hit by a car. There's nothing like entering a soap to shift your reality. I was getting bettered from the second I got here!"

What happens after that?
"He then helps her. She's a woman lying in the gutter so he helps her. He gets her an ambulance and just as the ambulance is taking off her phone rings. He starts talking to my child and realises I'm a mother so he comes to the hospital to meet my children - I have a 12-year-old girl called Amber and a 15-year-old boy called Taylor. Basically I have no help and I'm unconscious so he has to help me..."

Tony finds out there's someone else in the wings, doesn't he?
"I think it's easier for me to say it's not straightforward. If you're in your 30s, unless you're Quasimodo there's always going to be someone in the wings - it's not straightforward."

What about her husband Phil?
"He comes back from a business trip and goes to the hospital to see his wife but at this point his wife's been hospitalised for several days and Tony and I have been getting used to spending time with each other - then you see it's an uncomfortable fit."

But the week ends on a sour note?
"Well they want to spend their lives together but like I said the husband comes back. She's not in any fit state to go through separating with somebody. She's coming out of a hospital bed and this puts the kibosh on it."

What's the relationship like with her husband?
"I think things have cooled. They're just working together to keep the kids going. She probably feels a bit neglected and ignored."

Has there been a particular event that's caused this or has their marriage just gone stale?
"Now that would be telling!"

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Where's your accent from?
"I was born in Liverpool and I trained and worked in California for a while - I call it Scouse-American. In Footballers' Wives, I pushed it to be more transatlantic so it was a bit more obnoxious model! I wanted it to be like the girls who go to America for three weeks and you go, 'Where did you get that voice from?' She was meant to be English but I pushed her into the middle of the Atlantic!"

Are you going to emphasise the Scouse in Hollyoaks?
"No, it's more posh Northern - the Scouse will come out if I have a fight or whatever I'm sure, but I'm just making her general Northern. Very nice, very well spoken."

Did you always want to do soap acting or does it not matter as long as it's acting?
"To be honest, continuing drama or soaps as they once were called is brilliant. It's very in your face. Look at Dynasty, look at our Joan [Collins] - those glamour dolls. You get to be glamorous, you get to be funny and in your face, you get to be glitzy. The challenge is because there's so much of it. It's the biggest challenge on the market. Actors can be a bit pooh-pooh about soaps. In LA, nobody wants to do the soaps but they've always intrigued me. I came from the world of modelling so I love a shoulder pad, I love a bit of gloss, I love a shoe, a bit of D&G! The soaps allow you to push reality and be glamorous and be glitzy. They combine all the areas I've worked in. It's a nice place for me to be. I'm a hybrid, darling! You wait and see."

What can you tell us about the Sharpe children?
"The actors that are playing them are both brilliant, the kids themselves are really energetic. I think the relationship's going to be stronger with the boy. That's what it feels like. Because there's tension in the household I think the kids have unwittingly taken sides. The boy is my surrogate male in the house to lean on."

How do they interact with one another?
"The kids are solid as a rock. Perhaps that's what happens when the parents aren't great, the kids muscle together. That's what's happened with these two I think. It's early days. We spent most of the time establishing the relationship between the accident and what it did with me and Tony. All of [the other] stuff is what we'll be getting ready to start filming."

What's Phil like as a character?
"He's an alpha male. A bit of a snob, he's beautiful and strong and a Mediterranean man. It's like male-dominated culture - he comes from that ilk - a bit 'women as cattle'. A kind of 'do as I say' personality."

How do they end up in the village, then?
"I can't say! Don't even ask me how we get there!"

Can you tease it for us?
"Kris Green, you're brilliant at your job but I can't say! It's more than me life's worth, lad! No comment, darling!"

Do you miss Footballers' Wives? Would you liked there to have been a movie?
"If there was talk of a movie it went past me. You're always shocked when you're in something popular and it suddenly ceases to be. I remember, right after it was axed, I went over to the States and they tried an American version, but because they tried to do American football it didn't work and it meant the mixture of the women was different. It might have been part of the deal of selling it to the States that they axed the British one, I'm not sure. I was not best pleased. At the time I really wished it had gone on longer but I am an artist and I know these things come and go. You squeeze all the juice out of it you can and you enjoy it. You put your money in the bank, you buy a nice, tall pair of shoes and you clip out and enjoy yourself and work hard - that's me."

What do you think of Zöe Lucker being cast in EastEnders?
"I haven't seen her but I'm so delighted. I told her many, many times that as a result of her kicking ass for four seasons before I got there I had a job. She was a consistent part of that show for its entire journey. I'm looking forward to seeing her on screen. I'm sure she will have created something noteworthy - she's a very good actress and a very nice girl."

Fresh faces can really lift a show...
"That's what people do, isn't it? The audience hope that the arrival of new people brings fresh energy and I hope - being one of the new people arriving - that that's what's perceived. The difficult thing about succeeding in a part is you get offered the same part endlessly, it's not that you can't do anything else - [Zöe] had to wait until there was something she could do differently. I'm delighted for her. She's a lovely girl and works hard."