James Sutton enjoys going to "dark places" on ‘Hollyoaks’.
The 30-year-old actor did extensive research ahead of his character John Paul McQueen’s rape at the hands of Finn O’Connor (Keith Rice) and "relishes" the storylines, which require a lot of work.
He said: "As an actor, I relish this sort of thing.
"I love doing stuff that I have to go out and research, and go to some really dark places for. I worked really closely with
Survivors [a support group for male victims of rape and sexual abuse] in Manchester and it was eye-opening."
James admits his young co-star Keith was nervous about a backlash from the storyline but he advised him to accept that abuse would be part of doing a good job.
He told Gay Times magazine: "I’m good friends with Keith Rice, who plays Finn, and he’s been really worried about what people are going to say to him in the street and what abuse he might get – but I keep telling him this is his job.
"You either have to commit to it 100%, give it the best of your ability and be a nasty little piece of work, or you say no. You don’t do it half-heartedly."
James Sutton ‘relishes’ his Hollyoaks storylines
