Gemma Atkinson Reveals Why She’ll NEVER Return to Soaps — Despite Hollyoaks Begging Her Back

ITV

Hollyoaks Came Calling — But Gemma Said No

Gemma Atkinson has spoken — and it’s the news Hollyoaks fans didn’t want to hear. The former soap star has confirmed that despite being asked back to the Channel 4 show “a few times,” she will never be returning to the world of soaps. And her reason? It all comes down to family.

The 41-year-old, who played the iconic Lisa Hunter on Hollyoaks from 2001 to 2005, opened up about the repeated approaches during an episode of her podcast Lost in Translation, which she co-hosts with her fiancé, Strictly Come Dancing pro Gorka Márquez.

“Hollyoaks kindly asked me back a few times and I love Hollyoaks, forever grateful for it — it’s because of that soap I’m where I am now,” she said warmly. But her gratitude, it turns out, only goes so far.

The Real Reason She’s Stepping Away for Good

Gemma was refreshingly candid about why returning to the gruelling soap schedule is simply off the table. “I wouldn’t be able to do a soap again,” she explained, pointing to the relentless on-call demands that come with the territory.

“The thing is with soaps, you have to be on call 24/7 unless you specifically book time off,” she revealed. “We had to have in my contracts with Hollyoaks, Emmerdale and Casualty, that you had to be within an hour of the studio all the time unless you’d booked time off.”

To illustrate just how demanding that lifestyle can be, Gemma recalled one particularly stressful memory from her Hollyoaks days — being called into the Liverpool studio while she was in London. That kind of unpredictability, she said, is something she simply can’t accommodate now that she has two young children to think about.

A Mother First, Actress Second

Gemma and Gorka share daughter Mia, six, and son Thiago, two — and it’s clear that being present for them is her number one priority. She said returning to soap life would just be “too stressful” given her current chapter.

What she would consider, however, is a more structured project. “I’d love to do a one-off drama where there was a start date and an end date,” she said, explaining that a fixed schedule would let her plan childcare in advance — something impossible with the open-ended demands of a daily soap.

Fans of Gemma might remember she also starred as Carly Hope in Emmerdale, another role she clearly looks back on with fondness. In fact, during the podcast chat, she gave a heartfelt shout-out to her former Emmerdale co-star Lucy Pargeter, who managed to juggle twins and a full-time soap role simultaneously.

“I shared a changing room with Lucy Pargeter, who had twins and at the time they were like Thiago’s age. I genuinely do not know how she did it,” Gemma admitted with clear admiration.

She Did Return Once — But Never Again

It’s worth noting that Gemma did make a brief return to Hollyoaks back in 2022, so the door hasn’t always been fully closed. But this time, it sounds very much like she’s drawn a firm line — and fans will have to accept that Lisa Hunter has left the building for good.

Gorka, meanwhile, has also stepped back from his own long-running TV commitment. The Strictly pro announced earlier this year that he won’t be returning to the beloved BBC show after a decade on the dancefloor. He said: “After last year’s decision to step down as a full-time professional due to scheduling conflicts between Strictly and Dancing with the Stars… I will always be incredibly grateful to Strictly and the BBC for everything.”

It seems both Gemma and Gorka are making peace with stepping away from the spotlight — and choosing family life instead. You can’t really argue with that.

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