Kieron Richardson admits ‘Hollyoaks’ has inspired him to have HIV tests.
The 29-year-old actor – who is married to Carl Hyland – claims researching a storyline which saw his character Ste Hay diagnosed with the disease has "changed his life".
He said: "I was really open when we first started the HIV storyline about being a bit ignorant to it.
"Not having the sex education at school and me associating it with the 1980s, plus people saying it was a bad idea to do this storyline.
"Yet having the research has helped change my life. This year alone I’ve had two HIV tests. I’d never have done that if not for this storyline."
In 2010, Kieron appeared on ‘Dancing on Ice’ and jokingly claimed his flamboyant performance inspired ‘Hollyoaks’ bosses to make his character gay.
He told Gay Times magazine: "I’ve always said – in jest – the reason they decided to turn the character gay was because I was on ‘Dancing on Ice’ and the producer at the time said maybe I was a little more flamboyant than Ste was meant to be.
"From there he commented, ‘Ooo he can do gay really well.’ In jest, I’ve always blamed that for the reason."
Kieron Richardson has HIV tests because of Hollyoaks
