Jeremy Edwards turned down Hollyoaks’ male rape storyline because he didn’t think the soap would be able to "cover it properly".
The 48-year-old star portrayed Kurt Benson on the Channel 4 soap from 1995 to 1999 shortly before Gary Lucy’s alter-ego Luke Morgan was sexually assaulted by school student Mark Gibbs – played by Colin Parry – and Jeremy admits he had reservations about whether the "glossy" programme would be able to play out the plot.
He said: "It was really gritty. They didn’t hold back on it. It was quite terrifying, really
"To my shame, I turned down the male rape storyline. They offered it to me first, before Gary Lucy.
"This is awful for me to admit, but I didn’t think we’d be able to cover it properly. Because we were a bit glossy, I thought, ‘How are we going to do that?"
However, Jeremy now believes the hard-hitting plot was a "landmark moment" for the soap and "changed a lot of people’s perceptions" of the programme.
Speaking on Channel 5 programme ‘Soap’s Most Controversial Storylines’, he added: "The male rape storyline was Hollyoaks’ coming of age and I think it changed a lot of people’s perceptions of the show, so I think it was a landmark moment."
Jeremy last played Kurt – who died in a jet ski accident in 1999 – in the soap’s spin-off show ‘Hollyoaks Later’ in 2013, appearing as a vision in Tony Hutchinson’s (Nick Pickard) mind, and admitted shortly before his appearance it would be "easy" to write his character back into the main programme.
He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I didn’t die on screen so yeah it would be easy for Kurt to come back.
"I could make up a story in about half an hour and I’m not even a script writer.
"If people on the internet go, ‘Oh, I wish he was there,’ then the bosses may well take that onboard. I will cross that bridge when I come to it though."
Jeremy Edwards’ Hollyoaks ‘shame’ at rejecting major plot
