Karen Hassan says Bronagh Waugh is the person to know on the Hollyoaks set. The Irish actress is joining the Channel 4 soap full-time as Lynsey Nolan after previously appearing in Hollyoaks Later, and revealed being friends with Bronagh helped her fit in with the rest of the cast. Karen told Hollyoaks' website: "I knew a few of the cast members from Hollyoaks Later anyway, so it's like going to work with your mates every day. I'm quite lucky that I've got a friend in Bronagh (Waugh, who plays Cheryl). She knows everybody!" Karen, who appeared alongside Michael Fassbender in the Bafta-winning film Hunger, was delighted to be asked back to Hollyoaks. She said: "I've been acting now for about six years. I got the call to come back and do the show while I was in the middle of a theatre run in Ireland. I was in Hollyoaks Later about two years ago with Bronagh, Glen and Gerard. Then two years later I get a phone call to tell me the character is being brought back into the show... I was dead chuffed!" It's clear the actress is loving the security and exposure of joining a successful show like Hollyoaks. She said: "For an actor it's great to be able to go to the same workplace for a year. I was just thinking the other day how lucky I am to be able to have the same boss, same set of work colleagues, and just being secure in a job, because you then have that security to stretch your wings as an actor. "Plus, obviously, there's other perks. It's on prime-time television, it's got great coverage, and it's brilliant fun."
