Hollyoaks Later:
Interview with Nick Pickard (Tony)
We chat to Hollyoaks veteran Nick Pickard about his character Tony Hutchinson's past with the ladies, marrying the devious Cindy, and the fun he had filming the spin-off in Ibiza many years ago...
Were you surprised to find out that Tony was going to marry Cindy?
Well the proposal actually happened in the regular show on Channel 4 so it wasn't so much of a shock in the late nights. But I was a bit surprised that Tony would go through with it because of their volatile relationship and the fact that Tony knows Cindy's into Darren. I think he wanted to just go for it with her, and hopefully it'll work out for him.
Your character's been with a lot of ladies in Hollyoaks. Which one would you like him to have married?
Tony's actually only been married once. Tony had a wedding years ago at the beginning of Hollyoaks, but Julie let him down. So he's actually only ever been married to Mandy and they split up after they lost the baby. Tony's been with a lot of girls but this is only the second proper marriage that he's going into with his eyes wide open. The Tony and Mandy relationship was nice until their baby died which made their relationship fall apart. I think it would be nice to see Tony with Jacqui again because I like working with Claire Cooper (Jacqui) and I like the way their characters bounce off each other, but you never know what they're going to write for your character next.
Given a choice, would you prefer to film Hollyoaks Later or the main show?
I have no problem with either. I've been on the show for fifteen years now so I've been in seven or eight different countries filming it and all over this country. One thing I liked about working on Later is that we got to go out a lot on location. You tend to spread your wings a bit when you're working on other projects and that's nice because having been here so long this place can feel a bit like a prison sometimes! It was nice filming outside in the summer at some good locations.
In Hollyoaks Later, Darren tricks Tony into having drunken sex with a hooker who then abandons him on a potato truck. What was it like filming these scenes?
It was great doing that actually! I don't think Tony had sex with her, he just thinks he's had sex with her. They were good scenes to film with Ashley, especially because I've never really worked with him over the years. He's a really great friend of mine and it was good fun.
Do you prefer doing comedy scenes or do you like a bit of drama?
I like both equally, if the drama is written well I really enjoy it. I think Tony's always had a lot of fun stuff to do so I like the happy medium between it really.
How much longer have you been in it than Jimmy McKenna?
I think to Jimmy about 20 or 30 episodes. I started in October and he came in at Christmas.
Despite being the longest running character in Hollyoaks, this is only Tony's second appearance in one of the spin offs. Why is that?
I don't know, I never really noticed it until they did about three of them. I did the first spin off which was called 'Moving On', and it was all the characters from my era. But I think as the show's moved on, I only tend to work with a select group of people. It makes no difference to me if I'm in the normal show or the Later one as long as I'm in it!
One of the best storylines you've been in is when you went away on holiday to Ibiza...
That was cracking, yeah! To be honest that was my favourite ever time of shooting because it was all the boys away for two weeks in Ibiza. It was good fun!
Have you got any plans to do anything outside of Hollyoaks like last year when you did panto at the Empire in Liverpool with Cilla Black?
I'd always love to and last year me doing the panto was thanks to my boss Tony Wood who let me. But I don't think it's something that the company are willing to let me go and do every year. If they let me I would do it every year because I loved it.