Interview with Will Mellor

7 October 2015

What are your memories of your first audition?

I auditioned during that period when Paul Gascoigne was huge, in the mid-90s, and I had bleached blond hair like him. It was a bit of a home dye job to be honest, done with Sun-In rather than proper dye! I read for Kurt at first, but didn't hear anything back, so after a month I assumed I hadn't got the job. Then they called me back and asked if I'd read for Jambo instead, because I looked a bit wacky and that's what Jambo was. There were thousands of people at the audition and they were testing out all the different combinations of Tonys and Jambos and Kurts. I got the job on the Friday, and I started work on the Monday, and it changed my life.

 

Do you think life would have been different if you'd got the part of Kurt?

I wasn't right for Kurt. Jambo was the perfect character for me, at that time in my life. Between me and the writers, we carried Jambo on this great journey. He was very different. He had a funny way of doing things. I was really proud to be involved in the creation of him. He was zany and really fun to play. You never know what you were going to get with him - he drove a car that looked like a mouse, and had a plastic cow called Margaret. He wouldn't use doors, he'd always climb through windows. He was a bit of light relief for the show. People responded really well to him. I remember, we went to turn the Christmas lights on at Chester and we felt like pop stars. People went mad for us.

 

What were the early days like in terms of fame and recognition?

We kept saying it was the English version of Beverley Hills 90210. We were only given 27 episodes at first and we didn't know after that if it would get axed or carry on. But it took off. I can't explain how much fun it was. I met some life-long friends, and it was like a brand new world to me. I grew up on an estate, and to land a part where you're instantly famous and you're on bus shelters and magazine covers, was crazy. It was actually incredibly addictive. When you're 19, you could get used to that attention from girls, believe me. But my feet were nailed to the ground.

 

It was very different to all of the established soaps, wasn't it?

Yeah. Not everybody took us seriously. I remember the guys at Brookside would put silly wigs on and go, 'Why can't I be in a teen soap?', and take the mickey out of us a little bit because we were the new kids on the block and we were suddenly gate crashing their Green Room. But we didn't take ourselves too seriously either. We were having such a laugh. All the boys lived together in a house, and the girls had one just down the road. It was amazing. It was like being a student, but having money. The parties were legendary. Ours was a dream house. Four rooms, big driveway. We had two pool tables. Every time we had a party, we hired a bouncy castle. We were flown in a helicopter to London to do promotion, we were on the Big Breakfast. Everything I watched, we were on it. I got interviewed by Zig and Zag, man! It was incredible. All my Christmases coming at once. It's gone by so quickly.

 

Did you ever go into work without going to bed?

Once! And that was enough, I never did it again. Me and Jeremy [Edwards, who played Kurt] got chatting one night and I said, 'Jeremy, it's 5 o'clock in the morning, there's no point me going to bed now'. So I had a shower, went to work, did my one scene, felt terrible, and went home and got back into bed. But you can do it when you're young. I couldn't do it now.

 

What was the naughtiest thing you ever did?

I was a prankster. I set fire to Nick Pickard's foot once. I think I sometimes went too far, looking back…Nick used to pass out a lot when he got home. So he fell asleep on the sofa and he had a bit of masking tape stuck to his sock. I was so excited, I thought I'd light it up and it might make his foot a bit warm, but it went up really quick. It was like a firework. There was this almighty scream, and Nick's foot was ablaze. Nick was jumping around the room, he was steaming angry. I was on the floor, crying with laughter. It went even better than I thought.

 

Do you stay in touch with them.

Definitely. I spoke to Nick just the other day, and he had a 40th birthday party recently at a bar in Notting Hill and it was just great to be all back together. As soon as we talk about old times, it all comes flooding back. You can't go through that kind of thing and leave it at that; it creates a bond for life.

 

Why do you think so many actors from Hollyoaks go on to have such great careers?

I learned my trade from doing Hollyoaks. It was my induction and I see it as a real career choice. There's no hiding when you're in a soap. You're always in, you've got a lot of lines, and there's no time to get things wrong. Your brain just becomes a machine. There are certain things I can never remember, like how to use the 'print' button on my computer; but I can always learn scripts quickly, because of the amount of years I spent doing it on Hollyoaks.

 

Do people still recognise you from Hollyoaks?

Only today somebody called me 'Jambo from Hollyoaks'. It was 20 years ago! It was so long ago, our characters didn't even have mobile phones. I remember somebody said we shouldn't have them because they didn't think mobile phones would ever take off! But I'm happy to be recognised as Jambo, that's fine. You can't get too carried away with yourself or forget your roots. I'm very proud of Hollyoaks. I've never said no to an autograph or a picture. Why would I? It's a dream for me to be doing this job.

 

Would you rule out a return to Hollyoaks?

I always consider everything. No decision is ever easy.  Every decision I make is with my family in mind. I have to make sure that everything I do will give me longevity. With Hollyoaks, I will always be grateful and thankful for what they've given me. I would always look at an approach. I did do a guest appearance in 2004 when they did a Scrooge episode. It wasn't clear if it was a dream, or if he was a ghost. Jambo's not even dead! But I just wanted to work with Nick again and have a bit of fun.

 

You've been mentioned since then once: Tina McQueen said you'd texted Tony to say you couldn't make his surprise birthday party, and ruined the surprise for him!

I didn't know that! That's very nice. I wonder if there's a fee for that! [laughs]

 

If Jambo were to come back and then be killed off in dramatic Hollyoaks style, how would you like him to go?

By saving a friend's life. Jambo worshipped his friends. He was wacky and zany, and he did things on the spur of the moment, so it would be nice if he came back and saved someone's life and got killed himself.

 

Can you sum up Hollyoaks in three words?

In my day? Young. Fresh. Different. It's very different now. There were seven of us when we started out, and it was just about a core group of friends. Now it's about a whole community. It's completely different.  Nothing much happened in our day, to be honest, it was a bit more innocent. It was just about who fancies who, and about people playing pranks on each other, and someone waking up with a spot on their nose. I think the most daring thing we did was when Natasha died taking Ecstasy. There's at least one death an episode now, I think… is that right? [laughs]