Hollyoaks' Gemma: 'I want to be like Nick Pickard'

Hollyoaks' Gemma: 'I want to be like Nick Pickard' (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Hollyoaks hottie Gemma Merna admits she'd love to continue as dizzy beauty therapist Carmel McQueen for years to come. The 25-year-old actress wants to emulate longest-serving cast member Nick Pickard (Tony Hutchinson) - who has been on the show since it began in 1995. She said: "He's had some great storylines. If I was half as successful as Nick is on the show and liked as much then I would love to stay." She added: "It's a great place to work and Liverpool is a great place to live so I love it." The blonde recently admitted she "can't be bothered" to plan her wedding to Ian Minton at the moment, and expects they'll tie the knot "in the next couple of years". Gemma is currently fronting a new campaign with Aviva to raise awareness of young people's reckless driving. To discover more about the campaign visit www.avivayoungdrivers.com. Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk’s new weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.