Hollyoaks stars Carley Stenson and Danny Mac have announced that they are expecting their second child together.
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, Stenson, 41, uploaded a picture of her burgeoning baby bump’s shadow, with the caption: “We can’t wait to meet you.”
Responding in the comments section, Mac, 36, jokingly said: “Wait. What?” along with an awkward-looking emoji.
Their former co-stars Sophie Austin and Jessica Fox were swift to offer their congratulations.
“How wonderful,” penned Austin, along with a red love heart emoji. She added: “Congratulations lovely.”
Fox declared: “Beautiful news! Congratulations.”
Stenson played aspiring actress Steph Cunningham on the Cheshire-set soap from 2000 until 2011 and Mac portrayed village eye-candy Mark “Dodger” Savage from 2011 until 2015.
While they met in 2011, they never actually worked together on Hollyoaks because Stenson’s character was killed off in a fire before Mac joined the cast.
Mac’s character saw him voted three times as Soap’s Sexiest Man at the Inside Soap Awards, and twice Sexiest Male at the British Soap Awards.
They started dating in 2011 and were married by August 2017, welcoming daughter Skye Bella in June 2021.
After Hollyoaks, Stenson went on to carve out a career in musical theatre, with credits including Princess Fiona in Shrek: The Musical, Fantine in Les Miserables and Elle Wood in Legally Blonde: The Musical.
She competed in ITV’s Dancing On Ice last year where she was partnered with professional ice skater Mark Hanretty and finished in sixth place.
Mac had a series of big and complicated storylines while on the show, including discovering that he had fathered a child with his secret twin sister when they were both 14 year’s old.
His character was not killed off - he instead went on the run after witnessing his unhinged daughter push his equally unhinged half-brother off a roof.
Like Stenson, Mac also embraced musical theatre, with his resumé including Wicked (West End, 2006); White Christmas, Amelie and Pretty Woman.
He took part in the fourteenth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in 2016 where his professional dance partner was Oti Mabuse.
They failed to lift the Glitterball Trophy however, finishing as runners-up to eventual winner Ore Oduba.
