Yahoo Finance Exclusive: Hollyoaks star Harvey Virdi on Misbah's emotional new story
Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Note: The following article contains discussion of rape and sexual misconduct that some readers may find upsetting.
Hollyoaks star Harvey Virdi has spoken exclusively to Digital Spy about Misbah Maalik's emotional new storyline.
Harvey's character Misbah takes centre stage in a special episode next week as the truth about her traumatic past with Ali Shahzad (Raji James) is finally revealed.
Viewers have seen Misbah struggle to cope in recent weeks, as Ali has moved to the village and started getting to know their son Shaq Qureshi (Omar Malik).
In a special single-storyline edition of Hollyoaks next week, Misbah confides in her family by revealing that Ali raped her when they were at university together 30 years ago.
This is how Shaq was conceived and explains why Misbah was so reluctant to share the identity of his father.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy about how the story was planned, Harvey explained: "It's a journey we took together, really. Right from the beginning, the producers came to me with this storyline and they wanted to know my point of view.
"We also had a meeting together – the whole Maalik family – to talk about this story, how everyone would be involved and how it would impact them all.
"This was months and months ago, then the producers and writers went off to work on it. It was joyous to get the scripts and see how it came together. Having the discussion in a room is one thing, but then the Hollyoaks team go off, create this magic and a script appears.
"A lot of research has gone into it. We've spoken to Rape Crisis about historical rape and how it can affect someone, including the post-traumatic stress that can come into play."
Harvey continued: "Everyone deals with it in a different way, but one of the ways that Misbah dealt with it was to totally push it out of her mind. She decided that was the past, she shut the door and she was never going to go there again. That's how she tried to cope.
"But then unexpected things happened, like Shaq turning up and wanting to know who his father is. All of these triggers happened for Misbah and they started opening that door.
"For the past few weeks, Misbah's family have been asking: 'Why didn't you tell us that you had another son?' But it wasn't that easy and she didn't want to go there. This is why she found it so hard to tell Shaq who his father is, because she just didn't know what to say."
In upcoming scenes, Misbah is asked to pay tribute to Ali at a medical ball, where he's being honoured after securing a lucrative research grant.
As Misbah is haunted by upsetting memories from the past, she struggles to keep her composure at the event, sparking concern from her daughter Yazz (Haiesha Mistry).
Back at the Maalik house later on, Yazz gently encourages Misbah to reveal the truth about what happened between her and Ali all those years ago.
Harvey continued: "They were at university together. Ali was a PHD student, while Misbah was a first year medical student. Ali seemed to be this amazing, charismatic research man, who was really good at what he did.
"Misbah wanted to work with him and learn from him. She was in awe of him. Ali invited her to join his research group, which she did.
"From there, the story goes into talking about consent. There was a medical ball, which Misbah went to with Ali, and afterwards they had a glass of wine. She went back to his place and he raped her. That's how Shaq was conceived.
"It's great to explore that backstory, so we can find out more about Misbah and her past. We'd only seen a certain side to her – the strong and caring side – but we're now finding out what has happened to her in the past to make her the person she is today."
Early signs of Misbah's unease came when she found that Mandy Richardson (Sarah Jayne Dunn) had started dating Ali.
Misbah tried to warn Mandy that she shouldn't trust Ali, but she felt powerless to intervene when they continued to grow closer. Ali and Mandy have since gone their separate ways.
Harvey said: "Misbah wanted to protect Mandy and to warn her off from Ali. But how could she say the reason why, when she almost hasn't said it to herself?
"Misbah tried to tell Mandy that Ali isn't a very good person, but of course everybody else doesn't see that at the moment. Everybody else just sees this charming, caring and charismatic doctor.
"Misbah warned Mandy off because she knew that she could get hurt and she doesn't want that to happen to anyone else."
Hollyoaks fans have previously seen Misbah take centre stage in two other big issue-based storylines.
In 2018, Hollyoaks explored violence within a family when Misbah's teenage son Imran (Ijaz Rana) began abusing her both physically and mentally.
The following year, Misbah and her family were repeatedly targeted by far-right extremists after their neighbour Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) became radicalised.
Reflecting on Misbah's challenging storylines, Harvey added: "As an actor, that's what you want to do, isn't it? It's always great to have that opportunity to explore all these different sides of a character.
"With this particular storyline, the more I looked into it, the more I realised how important this issue of historical abuse and rape is.
"We're talking about things that happened 30 years ago, when people's thoughts were different. Things that are not acceptable were allowed to happen, which led to people not dealing with it.
"Being raped is bad enough, but it's even worse if you're not believed, you fear you won't be believed or you're being threatened to keep quiet. That's the bit that stops you healing mentally for many years.
"Our storyline talks about that. I realised how important that issue was and how many people have actually been through that."
Harvey also shared how the on-set dynamics have changed since Omar Malik joined the cast in the role of Shaq.
She told us: "It's always nice to welcome in someone new. The dynamics change and it's been lovely watching Rishi [Nair, who plays Sami], Haiesha and Ijaz get to know Omar since he joined the family.
"All of us have embraced him together as a family – it's a really lovely energy that he brings to all of us."
If you've been affected by the issues raised in this story, you can access more information from Rape Crisis England and Wales, who work towards the elimination of all forms of sexual violence and sexual misconduct, on their website or by calling the National Rape Crisis Helpline on 0808 802 9999. Rape Crisis Scotland’s helpline number is 08088 01 03 02.
Readers in the US are encouraged to contactRAINN, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800-656-4673.
Hollyoaks airs new episodes from Mondays to Fridays at 6.30pm on Channel 4, with first-look screenings at 7pm on E4.
Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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