Hollyoaks - Interview with James Sutton (John Paul McQueen)
Category: Press Pack ArticleSome powerful scenes are set to air when John Paul finally discovers Carter’s ulterior motive as the pair hash it out at the gym, can you tell us about this?
It is a big tipping point in the storyline, it’s a big story beat. Up until now, we haven’t really seen much of Carter’s backstory and his history. We don’t really know much about his past and the reason why he is the way he is. This episode delves very deeply into the reasons behind Carter’s personality and the reasons behind him conducting conversion therapy on John Paul. From John Paul’s side, he’s trying to piece everything together in the moment because he realises at the end of the previous episode that it is indeed conversion therapy. It’s somebody trying to figure everything out and somebody trying to think on their feet and cover their tracks and not let the façade slip. The episode culminates in quite a physical scene…
Why do you think now more than ever it’s important for Hollyoaks to be airing a Conversion Therapy storyline?
Off the back of our current Government decision not to ban conversion therapy and to allow that abhorrent practise to continue, it’s topical in that sense. It still goes on and as long as that continues, storylines like this have a place. It’s something that we take very seriously and we do feel a sense of responsibility to the truth of it and to the people that are going through it or have been through it. Since I’ve started doing my research I had no idea quite how big it is and how often it takes place, it’s shocking. If we can just shine a little bit of light, make people even more aware, they might turn on E4 or their children might be watching and they might think oh my goodness I can’t believe this still takes place and it gets that conversation going - that’s really important.
How have you found embarking on this storyline with David Ames?
We’ve got a good working relationship, and we have a good time together. I think we’ve got quite a good chemistry and it helps because we both take our work really seriously and we do a lot of talking and a lot of rehearsing. We sometimes move lines around and swap things out occasionally and have conversations with script editors as we want to make it as good as it can be. I think we trust each other which is a really good place for any two actors to be if you’re dealing with material of such a serious nature.
Why do you think it’s important for Hollyoaks to show the contrast of togetherness during the issue storyline covering conversion therapy?
We have many wonderful characters on the show who have wonderful relationships, explore their sexuality, hang trans flags, I love that side of it. I went to pride this year in Liverpool and I was blown away by the colour and the excitement and the pride, all of it. I think to have that contrast is really important, otherwise you’ve got a really gloomy episode so it’s nice that we have some of our younger LGBTQ+ characters on the show falling in love and being proud I think it’s a really positive thing.
Where do John Paul and Carter go from here?
They have a heated tempestuous relationship going forward. John Paul might be getting his foot in the door at school, whilst Carter is still trying to portray himself as an upstanding man, these are the paths we explore in the coming weeks…
You have been in your fair share of hard-hitting storylines, why do you these storylines resonate with people?
I think all the issue-based storylines resonate because they cover issues and topics that are important to people. I’ve done quite a few since John Paul and Craig’s storyline which was sixteen years ago. John Paul’s rape made a huge difference I know people still reference that and the Ministry of Justice subsequently got the policy changed for the first time. It’s important work that Hollyoaks does and there’s still people out there that are struggling with various things and the wonderful part of being part of Hollyoaks is that we get to cover these topics and to an extent I suppose make a difference in people’s lives. Even if it just gives them a glimmer of solidarity knowing that there are shows on TV and there are actors, writers and producers who invested in the issues that they’re dealing with and that’s the best part of this show I think.