Hollyoaks cast Ripper Street star as evil county lines villain

“Victor is (arguably) a sociopath who is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants,” says O’Mahony. “He’s perfectly comfortable with manipulating and exploiting vulnerable children to build himself the empire he thinks he deserves.”

So far teenagers Juliet Nightingale (Niamh Blackshaw) and Sid Sumner (Billy Price) have only had to deal with Jordan (Connor Calland) but as the storyline moves further up the chain of command there's a whole new level of danger for them and the other youngsters in the village to contend with.

"It's going to be seen how the hierarchy works," says Connor Calland. "The audience will get to understand why Jordan is the way he is. You'll see that he's not the nastiest person in the village anymore."

Ripper Street fans will know O’Mahony operating on the right side of the law alongside Jerome Flynn and Matthew Macfadyen as DS Frank Thatcher in the period crime drama but he admits the temptation of turning to the dark side as Victor sounded "too juicy to pass up."

"Victor is a complex character with a dark past and those are the parts that are always the most satisfying to play," says O'Mahony. "I would argue that Victor sees himself as an efficient businessman working within a violent industry, but there is another side to him that is addicted to the power and loves to see the fear in people's eyes."

• Next week's Hollyoaks spoilers: Felix blackmails Walter and Darren finds a distraction
• Hollyoaks: who is leaving, joining and returning to the cast?

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