Hollyoaks' Iz Hesketh celebrates positive impact of trans youth storyline
The Kitty Draper star bagged the award for Best Newcomer.
Having picked up the award for Best Newcomer at this year's RadioTimes.com Soap Awards, sponsored by Inspired Villages, Iz Hesketh has celebrated the win and reflected on her important role in Hollyoaks.
The actress stars in the soap as Kitty Draper, having joined the long-running series earlier this year. Already, Hesketh has been making waves after her mysterious arrival in January.
But her storyline and character arc is a vital one for the soap, with Hesketh reflecting on her journey so far after accepting the award for Best Newcomer.
Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com at the Soap Awards this weekend, Hesketh said that winning the award feels "unreal" and she was "so happy". She went on: "It's absolutely incredible, yeah I'm just buzzing."
Earlier in the year, Rose Lomax (Ava Webster) confided in Kitty about their own gender identity which then led to Kitty speaking to Rose's parents, Diane and Tony, about how best to support their child.
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In relation to her gender identity storyline with Rose, Hesketh said: "I just feel honestly blessed to have been trusted with the storyline. It's had a lot of backlash, which hasn't been easy.
"But I'm so happy I've been part of the story that's been able to prove that trans elders are here to help trans kids, show them the way to go if they decide that that is the path for them and they realise that that is the path for them.
"And that we aren't the prejudice that everyone's saying in the media, we're just trying to help our youngers. I'm really, really blessed to have been given that part of the storyline."
Ahead of her exciting win at this year's awards, Iz revealed more about her introduction into Hollyoaks and her eventful start in the soap. She said: "It's been unreal. When I first was in talks with the show, she was this completely different character and then kind of everything changed as the show developed.
"As I was just about to start, a lot of the storyline got changed, which I'm really happy about because it became a lot more personal and a lot more like myself. So, I've just been happy to show that trans people are normal people who have normal lives and just make bad choices, good choices and flirt with boys."
Hesketh beat the likes of Coronation Street's Jack Carroll, EastEnders' Francesca Henry and Emmerdale's Beth Cordingly to take home the RadioTimes.com Soap Award at the weekend, with the vote being decided by a group of soap experts.
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The RadioTimes.com Soap Awards 2024, sponsored by Inspired Villages, took place on 13th July – find out more about the winners!
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