It’s a hard hitting watch and a huge challenge for any actor to take on. Being groomed and radicalised into a racist far right movement set up to spout hatred and vitriol against Muslims, Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) has become distinctly unpopular among Hollyoaks fans – and understandably so.

After years of building Ste back up as a character following a domestic abuse story, Kieron admitted during a conference attended by Metro.co.uk that he was worried about turning his alter ego into a hate figure after nearly 14 years. As a result of some of the scenes Ste has been at the centre of, Kieron has been at the centre of backlash which has led to him deleting his social media accounts.

So it probably comes as little surprise that when the story was pitched to him, Kieron was deeply nervous and almost didn’t take on the challenge. However, a year on, and he couldn’t be more proud of the impact of the storyline, with many praising the soap for tackling the growing issue of far right extremism head on.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk and others, Kieron explained: ‘When the guys sat me down originally, I hadn’t heard of radicalisation before and I didn’t know what it was. Then we had a meeting with the guys from Exit UK. Basically, most of our story has been based on their work.

The episodes see Ste finally see the truth about the far right group following an explosion that has had devastating consequences.

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