Eccleston born star Emma Rigby discusses return to Hollyoaks

The 34-year-old De La Salle alumnus said she’s ‘absolutely thrilled to be back’ on the show which she left 13 years ago and starred in TV shows like Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Prisoners Wives and films like The Physician alongside Ben Kingsley.

She’s back to her roots now though, and says that it feels as though ‘nothing has changed at all’.

She said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be back, Nothing has changed at all. It feels like I've been in a time vortex like it was yesterday that I was here in a school uniform.

“I kind of miss the school uniform, we might have to reinstate that. It's lovely to see all the cast and crew, a lot of the same people and then of course a lot of new people who are also lovely. It's also funny for me to be the adult!

“I like the progression and the idea that there's so many facets of people's character and people can be anything.

“You don't know what you would do being put in that situation and you can be pushed to do anything. It's that nice exploration.

“I love acting, so it's nice to be back on set and be working every day which is a great thing. Acting back in the show it's kind of like coming home, it's that great nostalgia.”

Commenting on being back home, she added: “I’ve literally never been happier to be in the North. I love the Northwest I’ve always loved it, it's my home it’s where my roots are.

“Everybody is just so lovely here and has so much personality and are really great hard-working people, it's brilliant to be back amongst it.

“I love a line that was in the Red Riding trilogy where it says, ‘the North, where we do what we want.’”