Stephanie was right to do Hollyoaks, says Arlene

Stephanie was right to do Hollyoaks, says Arlene (Image credit: Lime Pictures)

Choreographer Arlene Phillips has defended Stephanie Davis' decision to choose a role in Hollyoaks over starring in the West End show Flashdance. The Liverpool-born teenager - who was a contestant on Over The Rainbow earlier this year - was offered a part in the musical, which Arlene worked on - but turned it down after landing the role of Sinead O'Connor in the soap. Speaking at the Galaxy National Book Awards this week, Arlene said, "It was the right move, absolutely. "She'll do Hollyoaks for a while. She's a brilliant musical theatre artist, she has a great voice, she's a great dancer and a fantastic actress. She needs to do this now and the world's her oyster. She's a real talent." Stephanie joined Hollyoaks earlier this year as part of the O'Connor clan, one of three new families brought in to the show by new producer Paul Marquess. She had been tipped as a possible winner of Over The Rainbow - in which Andrew Lloyd Webber searched for a new talent to play Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz - but was eliminated in the fifth week. Danielle Hope eventually won the series.

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.