Steph Waring finds filming ‘Hollyoaks’ "hard" without David Kennedy and Amanda Clapham.
The 40-year-old actress – who portrays Cindy Savage in the soap – thinks there’s still a "hole" that hasn’t been filled since her on-screen husband Dirk was killed off and her daughter Holly Cunningham left the village to go travelling.
She said: "I was very close to Amanda Clapham and David, they were my best friends.
"It is hard sometimes not having them here – there are two holes in ‘Hollyoaks’."
However, the actress has been spending a lot of time with her new co-star Lucy-Jo Hudson, who plays drug addicted prostitute, and Cindy’s new lodger, Donna-Marie Quinn.
She told Inside Soap magazine: "I love her. We have fun together.
"I’ve known Lucy-Jo for a number of years and we laugh a lot.
"It’s really good to be put in roles where we don’t have to be nice to each other."
With Cindy now a widow again, Steph can’t see what’s in store for her alter ego.
She said: "She’s done so much already" She’s been married six times, she has children, she’s killed someone and she has bipolar.
"I’d like to think it would be something that challenged me. There’s life in the old dog yet."
During her recent break from the show, the former ‘Dancing On Ice’ contestant visited Iraq in her role as an ambassador for the Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation, and admitted it was a very "rewarding" experience.
She said: "I wanted to know what they’re going through, and it’s probably the most rewarding thing I’ve done.
"It opened my eyes and I want to raise awareness and money for the kids."