HOLLYOAKS leading lady Jeniffer Metcalfe has revealed her heartbreaking real-life connection to Mercedes McQueen’s new bowel cancer storyline.
The actress – who has played Mercedes in the Channel 4 soap since 2006 – is taking on one of her most challenging plots ever as the new mum battles cancer after the time jump.
Hollyoaks star Jennifer Metcalfe has opened up about her real-life connection to Mercedes’ bowel cancer storyline[/caption]
Mercedes bowel cancer battle is the major story for Hollyoaks’ time jump[/caption]
Jen struggles to control her emotions when she’s made up as Mercedes now[/caption]
But for actress Jen it’s been tougher than usual as it’s the same disease that claimed her beloved dad Colin’s life when she was just 15.
And it has had an emotional impact on her, with the star telling The Sun in an exclusive chat how it’s helping her grieve for him now.
“My dad died of bowel cancer when I was 15 so I lived through it with him, which is why I wanted to do this storyline as well,” she said.
“You can get some people that go, ‘I can’t do that because I went through that and I don’t want to tap into that’. I’ve never grieved for my dad. That’s like pure grief what we watched there. Pure therapy and the rest of it.”
Jen had the story broached with her by new Hollyoaks boss Hannah Cheers at a restaurant in Cheshire where they both live.
After a three hour deep discussion of the inspiration behind the story – Hannah’s dear friend Sophie’s battle with cancer – and Jen’s history, the pair hit the town to blow off some steam.
Jen added: “So when Hannah said that I just thought, yes, challenge me right up. It’s a time when I wanted to be challenged, the show needed to be, well we had massive challenges anyway, let’s throw some more in there.
“And I just sort of lent into it. Did you speak to other people who have gone through with cancer? I lived through it with my dad at such an early age. Things have moved on and changed from then, like the treatments and stuff.
“But I felt like I know everything pretty much first hand. We have been working about Bowel Cancer UK, they answered any questions that I had. They sent me case studies of women in very similar situations. Hannah, one of her best friends, went through it and we spoke at length about that.
“Her friend Sophie a young woman with children. I’m in that position now, it could happen to me in a year.
“I think it’s important that we don’t take today for granted. What’s beautiful about the jump forward, and I’m so glad they’ve done it like that as well, like the year jump, is that you see people in love a year later. Now they’re not in love. You see people with full health, that’s deteriorated. People that have had everything financially, it can go.
“So it just makes me feel really aware of, you can’t take for granted a year time, a day time, and I think that will be quite powerful for the audience to see as well.”
Jen has had to undergo a physical transformation as well while filming – including wearing a bald cap while Mercedes has chemo treatment.
But the show isn’t shying away from the realities of the current state of the over-stretched and under-resourced NHS.
In hard-hitting scenes to air in a few weeks, Mercedes will be told that there is a shortage of the chemotherapy drug that doctors would ideally prescribe her – putting her life at risk.
But all in all, with the daily reminder of what she went through as a teenager, it’s been tough for her.
She said: “I spent four hours in prosthetics for the bald cap and really invested serious time. Them guys are so incredibly talented. As they were doing it at the end I was like, I can’t even look at myself in the mirror because I feel like I’m a woman sat here with cancer.
“I felt so sad for how I looked, for how women must feel in her position and the look at myself with no hair like that. It felt really vulnerable. The minute that bald cap arrived and the scripts came, so amazing. There was very little work for me to do.”
In a future week in Hollyoaks, Mercedes’ cancer battle takes centre stage with some huge emotional scenes – and it left Jen welling up throughout filming.
“That’s the week that really hit home,” she said.
“There were barely a scene I could do, even if I wasn’t talking about the cancer, without just standing there and welling up for myself because I just felt so vulnerable.”
And she’s prepared that it could mean the end of Mercedes.
What are the red flag warning signs of bowel cancer?
IT’S the fourth most common cancer in the UK, the second deadliest – yet bowel cancer can be cured, if you catch it early enough.
While screening is one way of ensuring early diagnosis, there are things everyone can do to reduce their risk of the deadly disease.
Being aware of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, spotting any changes and checking with your GP can prove a life-saver.
If you notice any of the signs, don’t be embarrassed and don’t ignore them. Doctors are used to seeing lots of patients with bowel problems.
The five red-flag symptoms of bowel cancer include:
- Bleeding from the back passage, or blood in your poo
- A change in your normal toilet habits – going more frequently for example
- Pain or a lump in your tummy
- Extreme tiredness
- Losing weight
Tumours in the bowel typically bleed, which can cause a shortage of red blood cells, known as anaemia. It can cause tiredness and sometimes breathlessness.
In some cases bowel cancer can block the bowel, this is known as a bowel obstruction.
Other signs include:
- Gripping pains in the abdomen
- Feeling bloated
- Constipation and being unable to pass wind
- Being sick
- Feeling like you need to strain – like doing a number two – but after you’ve been to the loo
While these are all signs to watch out for, experts warn the most serious is noticing blood in your stools.
But, they warn it can prove tricky for doctors to diagnose the disease, because in most cases these symptoms will be a sign of a less serious disease.
She said: “I just trust whatever tale Hannah and the show want to tell for that character will be the right decision.
“If they want to choose that Mercedes doesn’t survive this, I know that will be the right decision for the show.”
But she’s also keen that the storyline raises as much awareness as possible about symptoms – and she wants fans to feel able to ask her about bowel cancer and their poo – no matter where they are.
“I’ll talk about poos and farts, until the cows come home,” she said.
The relaunch of the show has been tough but Jen is enjoying the challenge[/caption]
The actress wants fans to know they can talk to her if they have any worries about bowel cancer[/caption]
“If someone wants to come to me in a restaurant and say my poos changed, would you want to talk about it?
“I’ll be like, hell yeah, and this is what you need to do. And I’ll tell you all websites, or if you want to get a home kit to test yourself, because you feel too embarrassed.
“I think me as a person, I’ll sit and talk to anyone about that all day long. And for the character as well, I’m glad that Hannah chose it to happen to Mercedes, because she is such a free character who’s feisty, she thinks she’s a cat with seven lives. She actually is.
“You know, she’s powerful, she’s strong, and I’m glad that she’s glamorous, she takes pride in her appearance. I’m so glad that it happened to this character, because it literally can happen to anyone.
“She thinks she’s invincible, and she’s not.“
She added: “Tell me, please talk to me on Instagram or whatever, please talk to me if anyone feels any change, it’s like, and I’m out and about, please talk to me.
“Obviously I’m no professional, but if people want to talk to me, and I can help, yeah. I regularly get tested like every six months, and I probably due one now. It is a bit s****y, excuse the pun, do you know what I mean?
“It’s not great, but you do it, and then you know your health’s sorted. So yeah, I do it, because bowel cancer is like, one of the most hereditary cancers that there is. So it’s important for me, and I always do have massive changes, so I always want to keep on top of that.”
But despite the huge dramatic storyline being central and being very aware that the story is one of the tentpoles holding the show together in these challenging times, Jen also has to deal with the major changes behind the scenes.
Budget cuts at Channel 4 have forced show bosses to cut the show to just three episodes per week and lose 40 per cent of their production staff.
More than 20 actors have also left the show – some willingly, some bitterly.
And the risky time jump move has meant that storylines aren’t being told as they would normally have been leaving even the actors confused at times.
Jen added: “I’ve enjoyed that, like, what’s felt challenging, and I think the audience will enjoy it.
HOLLYOAKS IS TAKING A RISK – BUT IT WILL PAY OFF
The Sun’s Soaps Editor Carl Greenwood gives his verdict on Hollyoaks’ big relaunch…
IT would be safe to say that Hollyoaks has had a tricky few years with dud storylines and viewers switching off in droves and Channel 4’s money crisis forcing job and episode cuts.
The show is now on just three times per week in 20 minute editions and has pulled off a year-long time jump into the future in order to hasten some of those exits.
But after watching the first of the new future Hollyoaks – it’s quite clear that new producer Hannah Cheers knows exactly what she’s doing.
She’s somehow managed to make Hollyoaks a contender again despite her massively slashed budget and cast.
And by putting the insanely talented Jennifer Metcalfe back where she belongs at the heart of the show – she’s played a blinder.
Jen’s character Mercedes is the show’s leading lady but she’s done everything – from facing down serial killers (plural) to marrying and burying seven men.
A lesser producer may have taken the opportunity to ‘rest’ the character – but by giving her bowel cancer, they’ve thrust her into the heart of the show once more.
And it’s given Jen the material that she deserves to show just how good a dramatic actress she is.
The heartbreaking connection she has to the story through her late dad will only fuel that emotional impact.
And it will all help put Hollyoaks back on top where it belongs.
“You see this jump forward and all these characters move, some positive, some negative, like, just move in that year.
“It’s like what we’re still filming now, it’s sort of, it’s sort of told a bit backwards. It’s like, they’re where we’re at, how we got there. And I think for me, even watching, like, the stuff yesterday, I’m like, oh my God. And then seeing the stuff I’m filming now, I’m like, oh.
“It’s quite difficult at times, the scripts, like, you’ve got to trust what’s on it, because they know what, why it’s there. And it’s to tell the tale of what’s happened in that year, but when you’ve not filmed it, it’s hard to grasp.
“But now, as watching it, even like as a viewer, I’m filming it, I’m like, I love the fact that the audience go, that’s where we’re at. And they go, ooh, how did they all get there? And it all gets told a bit backwards. I love it.”
