Hollyoaks - Interview with Ashling O’Shea (Nadira Valli)

7 November 2023

Nadira’s come a long way since Juliet outed her on her wedding day last year, she opens up about that in this episode, how did that affect her?

I think Nadira’s come into her own in such a beautiful way, she’s far more confident in her sexuality and, by extension, herself, despite the trauma of what Juliet did to her. Having distance from Juliet has meant that she can stop being clouded by her love and actually process the violence of Juliet’s action. Nadira and Shaq had already called off their wedding and yet this woman who supposedly loved her outed her in front of everyone. She never took the opportunity to try to understand how Nadira’s race, culture or religion could impact how this news was received and what life could be like for her afterwards. Nadira will always love Juliet but she truly understands now that what she did to her is unforgiveable and I think in all future relationships she will try to look for someone who could understand her full identity on a deeper level.

How has she moved forward and embraced her sexuality since then, and where is her head at now since Lacey has left?

I think embracing her sexuality has just been finding a way to be at ease in her skin. She was always confident in so many other ways and I think for her it was just about making this part of her align with everything else, she is more than her sexuality, but it is no longer something that holds her back.

In terms of Lacey, she’s given up on the idea of finding love for herself. I think she’s lost faith in love altogether right now. She has always been able to find love for others but the only two people she’s ever fallen for have cheated on her, died, accused her of murder and now left with nothing but a note. At this point I think she’s locked her heart away and has no desire to seek love anymore.

Why should fans tune into the episode?

This is a huge episode for the queer community. It’s an episode that explores the dangers our community – particularly our Trans siblings with rising hate crimes, increasing public hateful rhetoric as well as having to fight to be included in the conversion therapy ban - is still facing as well as the immense joy that comes from accepting who you are. It shows us the power of community and right now we need that more than anything.

What was the scenes/night shoot like to film?

It was lovely to have a mix of intimate moments as well as shared giggles in a bigger group, especially as I don’t get to work with many of the other older queer characters. I’m not sure if it made the cut but Kieron (Ste) doing the worm in the middle of the McQueen’s basement was a highlight I never expected.

Why do you think it’s important for Hollyoaks to show the contrast of togetherness during the issue storyline covering conversion therapy?

I think it’s important because our stories deserve the diversity and duality that exists! We deserve to see the unparalleled joy of our identities being celebrated and embraced, but we can’t forget where we’ve come from to get here, the fights it’s taken as well as all the fights we still have … we have a long way to go. Wherever there is well earned joy for marginalised communities, there are always a million more fights for us to focus on. As a Queer Brown woman, I’m very aware that my moments of joy and safety are a result of people before me fighting, I owe that same fight to the people around me and the people that come after me. I’m proud of Hollyoaks for shedding some light on this and encouraging us all to look into the experiences of people outside of our own echo chamber.

Peri and Nadira had a rocky start to their friendship but have since grown closer, how would you describe their relationship now? Can they rely on one another?

PHEW they’ve had a rollercoaster of a friendship haven’t they! I love their relationship now. They have this really interesting dynamic that almost fills a gap Juliet left, they call each other out and are so unafraid of insulting each other that they really just say it how it is. They support each other and genuinely trust each other but because of their past there is always this underlying thing between them which means either of them could go a step too far at any moment which is SO fun to play with.