Get your best hat on as it’s Hollyoaks wedding time – and Sienna Blake and Ethan Williams are confirmed to get further down the aisle than we thought they would!
The fan-favourite couple – played impeccably by Anna Passey and Matthew James Bailey – are every bit love’s dream as the big day kicks off.
And Metro can now reveal with joy that they do actually become man and wife – with new pictures showing the happy moment.
Rejoice! Chuck your confetti! Raise your glass! Raid the reception buffet!
Well, actually, park yourselves a little bit as this is Sienna we are talking about and she doesn’t do happy-ever-afters.
We can’t escape the looming prospect of Ethan’s exit from the show, with it being public knowledge that actor Matthew is leaving.
So that means that whatever joy we will get at the wedding will soon be undone, as is the soap way.
Expect big fireworks – secrets from that year-long gap are about to unfold in dramatic fashion, throwing the day into chaos.
And you can guarantee that Ethan’s lovelorn ex Vicky Grant (Anya Lawrence) will be at the centre of it, with the actress admitting to me recently that taking on Sienna is maybe not her wisest decision.
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‘Big mistake!’ she winced. ‘She’ll learn from it and she’ll be better off for it, but it’ll take a hot minute.’
This…education from Sienna will likely lead to some new directions for both characters and, what transpires at the wedding is the springboard for months of high drama.
I am sworn to secrecy (honestly!) over the wedding twists, but Anna Passey recently sat down with me to promise big things for her wildly popular alter-ego.
‘When I read the scripts, they’re really complex and I was so bowled over about how clever the writing of it was!’ she grinned with genuine excitement. ‘I’ve had some amazing stuff over the years, stuff I’ve loved, and these episodes felt like a weird anchoring back into old Sienna a bit, really, it felt slightly of another time.
‘I read them and I felt nervous, like I wanted to get this right and I was really keen to get started on it. We all really threw ourselves into those episodes. It felt like a coming home, in a weird way.
‘If you ever want a masterclass of Sienna as a human it’s these episodes. They were really beautifully written.’
A deep-dive into Sienna’s ever so complex psyche is always a welcome prospect, and Hollyoaks boss Hannah Cheers promised me that this is going to be a long-runner.
‘Sienna has a very interesting year ahead!’ she decalred. ‘She’s obviously got new family members to explore the dynamics with and that’s still a family very much laden with secrets and new mysteries to be uncovered. At the same time she has a new relationship, which I think the viewers will enjoy.
‘Now that she’s got a real family behind her, relationships get viewed through a very different prism now that you’ve got a father on the scene, and what do your sisters feel. I would say the next year for Sienna is about Sienna as a member of that family.
‘It’s about blood line, it’s about is your future pre-destined, can you change who you are, can you change where you come from. Is there a sense of inevitability about how her life will end up? Would things be different if my parents weren’t my parents?
‘I think it’ll be very divisive and I think you’ll never quite know what’s true and what isn’t, which I think is exciting.
‘I think the thing about Sienna, for me, is that we don’t fully know Sienna. Even if we’ve got to a place over the last few years where it’s like, OK, we understand who Sienna is now, she’s ingratiated herself into society, got a job, she’s functioning – she’s still Sienna. She really hasn’t changed. That’s the thing I really wanted to come back to…’
Whatever happens, fans should brace themselves for heartbreak and a sad goodbye. And Anna is just as sad to see the Sienna and Ethan relationship come to a close.
‘It was just beginning when Sienna and Ethan ruined it and, looking back, I wished we’d had a bit more of them before that happened.’
Honestly, a heavy relate on that one!
Confirming her belief that Ethan may be Sienna’s soulmate, she added: ‘No matter where it goes I think it’s important we have that time.’
Given where it’s going to lead for Sienna, it seems like this wedding week is therefore going to be the catalyst for a highly soaptastic and camp Sienna saga.
