Hollyoaks favourite Ali Bastian has addressed her time on the Channel 4 soap, revealing she was gutted when her character was killed off but would consider returning as a ghost.
Ali Bastian joined the cast of the popular soap opera back in 2001 as Becca Hayton. At the time, the show was attracting millions of viewers and she found herself at the centre of some of its biggest storylines.
After deciding to leave the show in 2007, the actress admits she initially worried she'd made a huge mistake by walking away at the height of its success. However, she was soon rewarded with a regular role in ITV crime drama The Bill.
Opening up about her time on the soap to new online bingo brand Zingo Bingo, Ali recalled: 'I was 19 when I started Hollyoaks, and it was a huge break for me. I'd always really wanted to be an actress. It was something that was just kind of in me.'
'Becca went through loads of highs and lows in those six years and as an actor, I got to try loads of different things: comedy and heartbreak! My character, in the end, went through a lot of heartache, but it really challenged me as an actor and the speed as well that soap works at is insane.'
Fans will remember Becca was brutally murdered by her prison cellmate, Fran Hathaway in 2007. She had been sentenced to two years imprisonment for sexual activity with a minor, but the claimant, Justin Burton (Chris Fountain), admitted to lying. Becca was stabbed shortly after being released, and died in hospital. She was officially exonerated posthumously in July 2007.
Opening up on a storyline fans didn't get to see before her emotional exit, Ali explained: 'If I hadn't left at that point, I think that the plan was for Becca to return [to Hollyoaks village] and end up with Jake. This was a plan that was floated by me, but it was never sort of officially down on paper. By that point, I was also just really ready to go home as well. I'd been in Liverpool for six years and I felt that I was ready for a new start. At that point, I made the decision to leave. That is why that storyline ended how it ended [with Becca being killed off].'
'I went home and I had about a month of thinking, 'Oh my God have I made the biggest mistake here? What's going to happen?' Then I got an audition for The Bill. I went in as a guest and actually managed to get a regular role. I got a phone call that night saying, 'You didn't get the job, but they want you to come back tomorrow because they're casting for a new regular.' I was like, 'oh my God!' I went back to that audition and I got the job and then I started as a regular on that and was there for three years. Our industry is so bonkers. You never know what's around the corner. One door closes, another opens.'
Over the years, Hollyoaks bosses have brought back several iconic characters from the dead and Ali isn't ruling out a return as Becca, saying: 'I was ready [to leave], but I don't think I would have chosen to die. I remember when I heard that I was like, 'Oh, great. That is really the end of that. I'm never coming back'. I was a bit gutted, because I had that sense of knowing there was no way back.'
'At the same time, it gave such a strong ending to that storyline and to her journey. I am quite glad I didn't just disappear into a cupboard and never come out again. I did get a cracking final story. You hope for that, of course, but it did make it feel final!'
'I mean, if they wanted me to go back as a ghost, I would definitely consider it. I feel like [Becca's son] Charlie Dean (Charlie Behan) could do with some guidance. I'd be right in there to be like, 'what's going on here?' That phone call never came. In some ways it's like it kept me moving forward and kept me doing new things and different things and I'm glad for that too.'
Hollyoaks airs Monday to Wednesday on E4 at 7pm and first look episodes can be streamed on Channel 4 from 7am.
