Hollyoaks legend Jennifer Metcalfe says she ‘loves’ to be gobby and receives a commission for it
EXCLUSIVE: Whilst Mercedes McQueen continues her cause chaos on Hollyoaks, actress Jennifer Metcalfe admits she cannot believe she gets paid to be so gobby and be paid for it
Working on Hollyoaks is easy money for Jennifer Metcalfe. The actress puts in long hours to play gobby Mercedes McQueen on the soap, but it never feels like work, according to her.
Some days, the Hollyoaks actress, who has been on the show for nearly two decades, can’t quite believe her luck that she gets paid to do it. Jennifer admits: “Playing Mercedes is easy for me; I love it.
“I don’t feel like I’m working,” she said about working on the Channel 4 soap. “I feel like I go in every day, see people I love and p*** around.
“Then I get money in the bank for doing it. I always think, ‘Well, that’s alright, isn’t it?’ This is all I’ve ever always wanted to do.”
Even when she’s filming tough storylines, Jennifer is still in her element. She says: “When you’re doing something dark, it can take its toll. That happened when I did the bowel cancer storyline last year.
“But the reward you get is so great. When the scenes start airing, you realise how much awareness you’ve raised and how much you’ve touched people.
“I get so much joy out of acting. I get to be creative every day.”
Jennifer has been on Hollyoaks since 2006. It has given her the life she dreamed of as a child.
And with so many actors out of work, she feels very lucky indeed. She says: “Before I got a job on Hollyoaks, I worked in a gym where I was selling memberships.
“That gave me a real sense of reality. It helps me appreciate what I have. I know what’s out there.
“I’ve got so many talented friends who are out of work and living in studio flats. They’re probably better actors than I could ever be, but they’re not getting that role.”
Jennifer never takes her job for granted. Hollyoaks is famed for staging big stunts that end with deaths. “Being a soap actress is a job where you don’t have much control,” she says.
“If somebody wants to kill you off because that works for the storyline, then that’s what will happen. But I don’t dwell on that. Whatever will be will be.
“If it happens, I will figure something out. The nature of the job is that it can all be there one minute and not there the next.”
Jennifer recently signed up to stay on Hollyoaks for another year. It was an easy decision to put pen to paper on a new contract.
“It’s a wonderful job with the most wonderful people,” she says. “I wouldn’t want to be on any other soap.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
