Rebecca Ryan, who shot to fame as Debbie Gallagher in Shameless aged 11, has joined Hollyoaks as feisty mum Beth Keane and she’s opening up about balancing her exciting new soap role with real-life motherhood
Rebecca Ryan says her feisty Hollyoaks character Beth Keane will take on anyone when it comes to protecting her brood. But much as she loves her new role, the actress admits she’s struggling with “terrible mum guilt”.
Former Coronation Street and Waterloo Road star Rebecca and her husband Dan Acraman have two daughters, Aurora, two, and 10-month-old Oriana. While Rebecca is excited about joining the E4 soap, she says she’s often worrying she should be at home with her kids instead.
“It’s hard,” she sighs. “You do get terrible mum guilt. If I’m away from them for five minutes, I feel like I should be with them. I’ve got the most supportive husband and family I could ever ask for, so I’m really lucky.”
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Rebecca, who turns 35 next week, also admits that she is grateful she gets to do what she loves while juggling mum life with two young girls. Returning home after a long day’s filming to their smiling faces makes it all worthwhile, she says fondly.
“It’s nice to do what I love again because, especially when your kids are younger, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut where you’re just ‘Mum’. My whole life is going to forever revolve around the girls, of course, but it’s nice to also have something that’s just for me,” Rebecca explains.
Rebecca’s eldest girl Aurora, who is about to turn three, often finds ways to try and keep her mum at home, she laughs.
“I’ll wake up in the morning and I’ll be getting ready for work, and she’ll go, ‘Mummy, where are you going?’ and I say, ‘I’m going to work’ and she goes, ‘No Mummy, work’s closed. You can’t go, it’s freezing,’” Rebecca says.
Rebecca shot to fame in the much-loved Channel 4 series Shameless as Debbie Gallagher, when she was just 11 years old. Now, she’s helping to mentor the two young actors who play her on-screen sons on Hollyoaks.
She and co-star, ex-Emmerdale actor Matthew Wolfenden, who plays Beth’s husband Jonah, have been sharing little tips about acting for the small screen with Lewis Walton and Sam Meyer, honed after their years of experience in the business.
“Lewis did a bit on Corrie before, but it’s Sam’s first TV acting job and it’s really nice. I feel like me and Matthew can teach them little things on set – like, I don’t know, what things mean when the crew say something technical,” Rebecca explains.
Rebecca didn’t realise the enormity of her Shameless role until much later, and confesses that in the early days she also found it difficult to adjust when she had periods without work.
“I think it’s really important, especially at a young age, to just try and keep as grounded as possible,” she says. “Being an actor is the best job in the world – when you’re working. But it’s really, really hard when you’re not.”
She adds, “When you start out so young, people tell you all the time that you’re great, you’re amazing, and you’ve got to put it all into perspective because when you do have a quiet patch you suddenly ask yourself, ‘Am I not good enough any more?’
“But that’s just how this industry is. It’s tough – and you’ve got to learn how to cope with the good with the bad and continue to believe in yourself.”
Years later, Rebecca is still recognised for playing troubled Debbie, despite her more recent roles in Casualty and Corrie.
“It’s probably what people recognise me for the most, especially now it’s just come back on Netflix,” Rebecca reveals. “There are loads of new fans now watching Shameless for the first time, and old fans rediscovering it again. I love that.”
Rebecca is taking on a very different role as Beth in Hollyoaks. While she’s excited, she admits it feels strange to be playing the mum of two teenage boys, as in her head she still feels like a teenager herself.
“I still feel like I’m about 18. I’m like, ‘Sorry, this is not possible. How am I a mum to grown-up boys?’ But it’s nice because I’ve never played that kind of role before. I’ve always been a child or a teenager,” she says.
“At home, I’m still in the baby and toddler phase. I’ve got it all to come. It’s just preparing me for the future and all the teenage angst I’ll have to face.”
And her maternal instinct has truly kicked in when it comes to her younger co-stars, she grins.
“When you come on set, you instantly want to protect them,” Rebecca says. “I’m like, ‘Are you OK?’ and they’re like, ‘Yes, Rebecca, we’re fine, don’t worry.’ I’m just being a mum.”
With the Keanes caught up in a horrific car crash as they make their Hollyoaks debut, and Beth’s link to the Osbornes, Rebecca teases a lot of drama ahead.
“There’s a lot of fallout over the crash,” she reveals. “That’s the main event, for quite a while. It’ll be interesting to see whose side viewers are on. It all blows up, there are a lot of repercussions. And they’ve got a few skeletons in the closet, too. Grab your popcorn!”
Watch Hollyoaks Mondays-Wednesdays on Channel 4 streaming from 7am, then on E4 the same night at 7pm.
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