Imran Adams thought it was a joke when he was told his first ‘Hollyoaks’ scene would involve him stripping off.
The actor joked his agent didn’t tell him he would have to take his clothes off on national TV when he joined the Channel 4 soap as Mitchell Deveraux, and he only found out the full details of his alter-ego’s striptease on the morning of his shoot.
He said: "My agent never told me about any stripper scenes. The stripper scene was my first scene I shot for ‘Hollyoaks’.
"I didn’t know the full details until the morning of the shoot, so I get on the ‘Hollyoaks’ set, which was my first time ever, with the director Miguel.
"He’s smiling and telling me what’s expected and what his vision is, and all along I’m just waiting for him to tell me that he’s joking, and that there’s no way I’m going to be stripping on national television.
"But after the third take of me grinding on Nana McQueen with a bunch of extras in nothing but tiny shiny gold pants, there was something in my head that was telling me, ‘Welcome to ‘Hollyoaks’!’ "
Imran believes his character is "like no other" on British TV, and says it "made sense" for Mitchell to strip off, unbeknown to his "very strict, religious family".
He added: "He really is like no other character I have seen or heard of on British TV.
"I think that’s refreshing, and the writers and storyline supervisors are so great at what they do it just makes sense.
"Living in a household where his grandad told him all of his life’s answers are in one book and one book alone, The Bible, it made sense for him to do something so bold and brave without his family knowing, especially his grandad.
"I think the truth is that he really enjoys it. You can’t knock a brother’s hustle I’m telling you."