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Hollyoaks star Jennifer Metcalfe has opened up about digging deep into her personal experiences to film the latest emotional cancer scenes involving her character Mercedes McQueen.
The soap has recently seen its storyline jump forward for an entire year, and viewers learn that the character’s circumstances have drastically changed in that time.
Warning: Spoilers for Tuesday’s Hollyoaks are below
During Tuesday’s episode (24 September), it was revealed that Mercedes had received a bowel cancer diagnosis in the previous year.
Viewers learn that she had already undergone surgery and chemotherapy, but a secondary tumour was found in her liver that the doctors are attempting to treat. However, Mercedes is told she only has a year left to live since her chemotherapy was unsuccessful.
In a new interview, Metcalfe, who has played the character on the soap since 2006, revealed she had a personal connection to the storyline because her father died from bowel cancer when she was aged 15.
“There was real, raw trauma there for me that I’ve probably never dealt with,” Metcalfe told media at a recent press event. “I had to dig a little bit deep into personal experiences.”
She said she felt “every single emotion” while filming the scenes.
“It felt beautiful, awful, draining, amazing, special, exciting, sad, upsetting… every single emotion that you could feel.”
Metcalfe admitted she couldn’t watch back the scene herself, but hopes that the storyline will help others living with the disease.
She said: “I just trusted that whatever was going to happen when I got [in the room], would happen. I didn’t know I had this in me until that day. I went into a totally different zone. It was really draining, but really rewarding.”
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“It could be the worst thing television’s ever seen or the best, I don’t know. But I hope what I felt came across. Apparently [the scene] is good, and hopefully it raises the awareness that we want it to.”
At the end of the episode, Mercedes looks in the mirror wearing only her underwear, without her wig and with her stoma bag on show. She puts on a CD that’s been put together by her loved ones as she dances to the music through tears.
Speaking about the scene, the actor said: “I go from looking at myself in the mirror and taking it in, getting emotional about it, then I look at my children and I get some strength. So I play this CD, and then all my friends are telling me some nice words that make me laugh.
“Then this incredible music plays, and I dance freely. I was like, ‘Wow, how am I going to do this?’”
