Hollyoaks - Interview with Ruby O’Donnell (Peri Lomax)

7 November 2023

Peri confides in Nadira after receiving the ‘cancer in teens’ fundraiser leaflet as the pair share memories of Juliet in emotional scenes, what is Nadira and Peri’s relationship like now?

Their relationship has definitely grown stronger since the three-way cheating scandal obviously. They’ve come together through the grief of Juliet and they both need a friend and someone to lean on, so I’d say they’re good friends now.

How is Peri coping since Juliet’s passing?

She is coping terribly! Which is why I think she’s keeping herself so busy because if she stops for a minute then she thinks about Juliet and gets really sad and I think she’s trying to deflect her grief by getting with other people and doing things like that so she’s not coping well at all.

Why do you think a romance has blossomed between Peri and Romeo?

Their relationship is definetely trauma bonded I would have to say, as much as Peri will say it isn’t, they have definetely come together because of the grief of losing Juliet and they are the only two people that know how it feels to lose her so they bonded by trauma. Fans can expect a lot of heated moments…

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 really important to show the togetherness of the community, especially with the other storyline going on. To support the LGBTQ+ community and to show that they’re not alone and there are people that will stand with them throughout everything and to show our love. I think that’s really important for the community right now.

What was the scenes/night shoot like to film?

The night shoot was hilarious, we all went a bit delirious, I think we had too many pieces of pizza. It was really fun I laughed a lot which at the minute isn’t something I do often on set, so it was really nice to have a bit of light-hearted scenes just full of love and togetherness. Ross was hilarious especially he really had us all in stitches it was really good fun.

Why should fans tune into the episode (solidarity)?

Because it’s brilliant. It’s a really important episode again representing the LGBTQ+ community it’s a fun episode with some of your favourite characters. It’s definetely one to watch…