HOLLYOAKS’ Denise Welch has revealed her menacing soap character is inspired by a real life sex abuser.
The Loose Women panellist – who plays Trish Minniver in the Channel 4 soap – says her character’s plotline is drawn from Athlete A, a true crime documentary about an abusive gymnastics coach.
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She told the Daily Star: “On one hand, Trish is camp and a bit of fun, but on the other she’s incredibly passive aggressive, a narcissist, and a bit of a bully.
“Trish’s storylines were inspired by Athlete A, where loads of gymnasts came out and said the coaches had bullied them.
“Hollyoaks has diluted that story and put it into the form of Trish and how she behaves at the village’s dance school.
“I’ve seen documentaries and spoken to a lot of people over the years who have had mothers who are like that and we’ve also seen it coming out in recent storylines with the way she behaves towards her daughter Maxine.”
Hollyoaks fans were horrified when Trish’s abusive side began to emerge in recent months, with the bully belittling and insulting Maxine.
Denise recently revealed that the whole truth about Trish’s abuse will come exploding out in upcoming scenes.
“She was a pushy dancer teacher, and we will see that come out,” she told HOAR’s TV Mag.
“That will be very much highlighted in the storylines, but when you think of some of these dance mothers – and Dance Moms a few years ago, Abby-Lee Miller in Dance Moms, there was a pretty dark side to her with the way she was.
“So what we find out is that Max never lived up to her mother’s expectations, she was pushed to the back all the time, she was made to feel like she had two left feet, was too fat, she was all those things, and when Maxine brings that up, Trish is like, ‘yes I know, but you eventually got a leading role’.”
Trish is also set to lock horns with rival dance teacher Marco, who is played by former Strictly Come Dancing pro AJ Pritchard.
Hinting at his character’s upcoming conflict with Trish, AJ recently told Inside Soap: “Marco is Trish’s [Minniver] rival from a previous dance school.
“He’s a very cheeky and confident guy. Marco knows what he wants and when he turns up, he acts as if he owns the place.”
AJ added: “Marco arrives for Trish’s grand opening which, as you’ll see, is not so grand due to a couple of mistakes on Maxine’s [Minniver] part, which was fun to film.”
- Hollyoaks airs five nights a week from Monday to Friday at 6.30pm on Channel 4, with first look screenings at 7pm on E4.
