Hollyoaks star Imran Adams quits show as Mitchell Deveraux – the soap’s second black cast member since racism row

HOLLYOAKS star Imran Adams is leaving the soap later this year – quitting his role as Mitchell Deveraux just weeks after his character gets married.

The shock exit will play out on screen later this year, with soap insiders saying Imran is “happy to move on to new projects” after less than two years on the show.

Imran joined the soap in February 2019 as part of the Deveraux family, and has been at the centre of several big storylines, including finding out he has a secret twin brother, his dad is gangster Felix (played by Richard Blackwood) and realising he’s gay.

Hollyoaks fans will see Mitchell marry boyfriend Scott Drinkwell in a romantic wedding when the soap returns to screens in September.

When contacted for comment, Hollyoaks confirmed: “Imran Adams will be leaving Hollyoaks later this year at the end of his current contract.”

Imran will be the second black actor to leave the soap since it’s racism row – the first being Rachel Adedeji, who plays Imran’s on-screen cousin Lisa Loveday.

While there is no suggestion that Imran’s exit is connected to the row, it does raise questions after what happened earlier this year.

The show was forced to conduct an internal investigation after the actress, who is close friends with Imran off-screen, claimed racism was rife backstage on the soap.

“I am disappointed with Hollyoaks’ approach to showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement yesterday," Rachel shared in early June.

She said: “Did Black Lives Matter when a number of female black actors were forced to drastically change their hair, because if not, the viewers ‘would not be able to tell them apart'?

“Do Black Lives really matter to you if over the last four years at Hollyoaks, I have only worked with one black director?”

“I can no longer stand for it. Do better.” She was later backed by Luke Jerdy, who played Jesse Donavan, and other cast members.

Responding to her post, Hollyoaks’ spokesperson said: “Hollyoaks has zero tolerance on racism. We are taking Rachel Adedeji's comments extremely seriously and are investigating."

Lime Pictures, who make the soap, later bought in ‘unconscious bias’ trainers and launched a mentoring scheme for black employees, saying: “All BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) staff, freelancers and cast will also be offered mentoring from Lime Pictures' senior management.

"We are undertaking an immediate and in depth review of company and cast liaison across Lime.

"We will be producing a Hollyoaks podcast where our black cast will share their experiences on racism to their audience.

"We are very conscious that we need to do more and are committed to making changes that we need to make.

"The onus is upon our company collectively and us all as individuals within our community to tackle racism, and it is a responsibility which all of us here at Hollyoaks are taking on fully."

In a special podcast for the soap, actors Talia Grant (who plays Brooke), Richard Blackwood and Trevor Toussaint spoke out about what it was like working at the soap.

Trevor criticised the production company's all-white team, admitting that while they were "getting a lot of things right" there were still elements that made it so "people of colour do not feel they can apply to Lime for work."

"What is it that keeps those people out and when they are in, what is it that stops them from going up the ranks?” the actor, who stars as Walter Deveraux, said.

"Systemic racism exists in all strata's of society, and television is no exception to that. Lime, who I work for, is no exception to this."

Source: Read Full Article