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Beth Keane (Rebecca Ryan) admitted to having a sense of relief in Hollyoaks after the truth about son Maddox’s (Sam Meyer) parentage was exposed but little does she know what other secrets hide in plain sight.
The matriarch of the Channel 4 soap’s newest clan has proven a true force to be reckoned with since making her dramatic comeback to the eponymous village earlier in the year, demonstrating time and again that family is the utmost important thing to her.
So much so that she did everything – and I mean everything! – in her power to keep a lid on the fact that Cindy Cunningham (Stephanie Waring) is Maddox’s biological mum.
But secrets don’t stay secret for very long in Hollyoaks and the big reveal hit our screens this week. In true soap fashion they did not disappoint, as Beth desperately tried to explain the situation to a confused Maddox.
‘That’s her son,’ star Rebecca Ryan told Metro. ‘Beth raised him. And for it to come out [like it did] and it not to be her decision is heartbreaking – she’s not done it in a way that she would have liked it to be done.’
The actress, who is no stranger to the world of soap with previous roles in Coronation Street and Casualty, revealed that her on-screen alter-ego is ‘scared’ about losing Maddox in the aftermath of the big reveal.
‘When it came out, I think Beth thought: “at least it’s out in the open and we can move on from this”. But Maddox’s reaction is, “Wait, this changes things.”
Previewing the scenes ahead, Rebecca revealed that viewers can expect things to be tense for the Keane clan, particularly where Maddox is concerned.
‘It’s all about trying to win Maddox over and trying to persuade him to come home,’ she teased. ‘Seeing that he’s gone to Cindy’s is even more heartbreaking for Beth. I think she’s going to try everything now to get him home so that they can discuss it, or at least try to get back to some sort of relationship.’
Whether or not Beth and Maddox can get back on an even keel remains to be seen but there’s another situation bubbling away in the Keane household, with Jonah (Matthew Wolfenden) drugging son Caleb (Lewis Walton), who is totally in the dark about what his dad is up to.
And he’s not alone, with Beth having no clue what her beloved other half is up to.
‘Beth puts him on such a pedestal,’ Rebecca said of Jonah. ‘Beth is normally the one who is causing trouble and telling everyone what she thinks, and he is her calm place. He will always diffuse it, come to the rescue and sort everything out. They have this good dynamic between them, so I just think it would never even enter her head that he would do anything remotely like this.’
With that in mind, just how would Beth react when the truth comes out? Rebecca reckons disbelief would be the immediate response. ‘I think it’s really hard because, for Beth, family is her everything. And her relationship with Jonah is everything to her.
‘I think she would really struggle to come to terms with it. I don’t think she would believe it. Even if people told her, I think there would have to be hard proof. She would have to see it with her own eyes because I think she would still try to defend him.
‘I don’t think she would be able to compute that he would do anything like that because he’s always been so amazing and such a family man. I think she would find it really hard to come to terms with the fact that he is doing anything to Caleb.’
The storyline is only just getting started with Rebecca teasing ‘more to come’ for the narrative. ‘That’s really going to start heating up and moving up a notch, where it’s even getting out of control for Jonah.
‘He’s just scrambling around trying to cover his tracks, so there’s a lot of that going on at the moment.’
It’s been nearly six months since the Keanes first rocked up on our screens and it’s safe to say there has been no shortage of drama, with powerhouse star Rebecca relishing every minute.
‘I’m absolutely loving it,’ she said of her time on Hollyoaks thus far. ‘It’s such a lovely place to work, everyone is so lovely. Me and Matthew [Wolfenden] talk all the time about what a great time we’re having. We’re just enjoying every moment’.
Much of that enjoyment stems from the role of Beth, who the TV and soap star admitted she absolutely ‘loves’ playing.
‘She just wants to fight everyone, and I think it’s great!’, said Rebecca with a laugh, who thinks her on-screen alter-ego has ‘settled in’ well by now.
‘It’s amazing. I’m so lucky. To come into a new family and have so much fun, and to get to come in altogether, has been really lovely. We’ve been really lucky to get really amazing storylines.’
In addition to proving a real matriarch figure for the Keane clan, much of Beth’s scenes thus far have been shared with Cindy, and star Rebecca is hopeful that this is a dynamic that will be explored further.
‘They will always have this incredible bond,’ she said of the two characters, ‘even if sometimes they can’t stand each other.
‘It’s a very sisterly kind of relationship and I think deep down they very much want to have each other in their corner.’
Hollyoaks streams Mondays to Wednesdays from 6am on Channel 4’s streaming platform, or catch episodes on TV at 7pm on E4.
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