In the honeymoon phase with her new partner, Jennifer Metcalfe is in no rush to walk down the aisle – but she already knows what she’d be wearing on her big day.
After playing man-eating Mercedes McQueen for almost 20 years, Jennifer Metcalfe is striking out in a bold new direction.
The 41-year-old actress will appear as high-maintenance ‘stepmum’ Candy in new BBC comedy drama Just Act Normal, which explores what it means to be a Black working class teen in the UK today. It’s her first TV role other than Hollyoaks since 2002 and marks a new chapter in Jennifer Metcalfe’s life.
Jennifer was invited to audition just as she was about to board a plane to Mexico with her new boyfriend, who filmed it on his phone when they arrived.
“I got the call on my way to Tulum, so I had the flight to learn it,” she says. “When you do a self-tape you want to look like the character and I only had beach bags and bikinis to work with! We did what we could. It wasn’t the best tape I’ve ever done, but I pulled it off and got the part!”
The new man in her life comes after relationships with Dancing On Ice ’s Sylvain Longchambon and Geordie Shore ’s Greg Lake – father of her son Daye, seven. This time, her partner isn’t in show business and she likes that. A lot.
While she wants to keep the relationship – and his name – secret, Jen will say the pair are very happy together. “It’s good, it’s great, he makes me really happy,” she says.
Now she’s in her forties, and feeling more confident, Jennifer has a different approach to dating. “When you’re younger, in your twenties, you’re looking for a unicorn of a man and going, ‘Nah, that one’s not for me!’ Now I feel more at peace with where my life is at and it’s nice to share that with somebody.”
Still in the honeymoon period with her new partner, Jennifer isn’t rushing into marriage – unlike her Hollyoaks character Mercedes who’s had seven weddings.
“It’s not something I’ve ever seen on my path,” says Jennifer. “I’ve always wanted a child, and I have my little boy Daye, but I’ve never seen marriage in my plan. I’ve never dreamt of a big white wedding dress. I’ve had seven on Hollyoaks and if I ever did get married I’d wear black or gold or something completely different!”
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And while her partner isn’t in the TV industry, he must have done a good job of filming her audition as she won the new role. “We flew back to the good news a week later and it’s amazing to be involved in something different after all these years,” grins Jennifer.
She joins rising stars Akins Subair, Chenée Taylor and Kaydrah Walker-Wilkie, who play siblings Tionne, Tiana and Tanika, who are hiding a terrible family secret. Jennifer, meanwhile, plays Candy, who is their laidback dad Leo’s (Ivanno Jeremiah) materialistic partner. Other big names in the show include Romola Garai, Sam Buchanan and Jamelia.
It’s a departure from Hollyoaks, which allowed Jennifer to take on the project after reducing their episodes from five to three a week. And where Mercedes is passionate and fiery, Candy is hard and unforgiving.
“She’s colder than Mercedes,” laughs Jennifer. “The siblings in it are going through massive difficulties and Candy just makes things worse. She likes the idea of having their dad to herself and doesn’t want to share him with his children. They irritate her. It’s a hostile relationship.”
Not only did Jennifer find it invigorating to work with such brilliant young talent, she also loved Candy’s look and took some of her costumes home.
“She dresses better than me,” laughs Jennifer. “I got a fresh blow-dry every day and some sassy outfits and I took away half of them. I got some little gifts.”
While it was great to get her teeth into a new role, Jennifer isn’t short of acting challenges on Hollyoaks. Recently, viewers have seen Mercedes facing bowel cancer. The storyline has seen the much-loved character undergo chemotherapy and surgery to fit a stoma bag.
“Mercedes getting cancer has shaken the audience, and me, as an actor,” Jennifer says. “I’ve had to dig deep and go to parts of myself I’ve never really had to go before. It’s been challenging and rewarding, and has reached so many people and raised awareness.”
In 19 years on the soap, Mercedes has survived almost everything, including being shot, faking her own death and getting kidnapped by a serial killer while pregnant. But the bowel cancer storyline has been the most gruelling.
“Mercedes sashays around the village like she has nine lives,” says Jennifer, “and I think it really brings home the fact that cancer can happen to anyone at any time. I’m glad they chose Mercedes to go through this because I have got a lot from it.”
The reaction from fans has been overwhelming and having lost her father Colin to bowel cancer when she was just 15, Jennifer is proud the storyline has prompted viewers to get screened for the disease. Jennifer takes regular tests by sending off stool samples – something she’s keen to encourage. “I feel no shame about that at all, it’s a simple test – so quick and easy,” she says.
Fans contact Jennifer online and she always tries to respond. “ Instagram is where a lot of fans reach out and I try and sit for an hour or two a week and reply,” says Jennifer. “The amount of people that it affects directly or indirectly is overwhelming. I’ve sat there crying, typing messages back to people.”
Jennifer filmed one scene where Mercedes was crying in her underwear with her colostomy bag on show – something she was proud to normalise.
“My dad had a colostomy bag that I often had to change and help him with,” she recalls. “They’re saving lives and they’re amazing things so it’s about showing that and not hiding it away.”
To get into character for the scene, Jennifer remembered her father’s funeral. “It was such a tricky scene for me, but I loved it. I had the song that I played at his funeral and I was in my little zone, which I’ve never really done before.
Normally when I have to find emotion, I find it quick because soap is quite fast and you don’t always get the time to get yourself in that space. But I gave myself that time and thought about my dad and thanked him for me being able to portray it the way I did.”
Jennifer knows he would be proud and is pleased to have honoured her dad by making a career in acting after he drove her to auditions as a teen, when she won roles in dramas including Where The Heart Is and At Home With The Braithwaites. “I thought, ‘I hope he can see me doing this because, Dad, this is for you,’” she says.
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