Gemma Atkinson has revealed her pride over Hollyoaks tackling the topic of self-harm with her character almost 18 years ago.
Hollyoaks' Lisa Hunter battled self-harming on the show back in 2002, with episodes seeing the teenager take centre stage.
The storyline had not been covered on soaps before, possibly even TV shows as a whole, with actress Gemma admitting they "took a risk".
As part of the soap's early 25th anniversary celebrations, they are airing past episodes from different years for Hollyoaks@25.
This week, fans new and old will see Lisa's heartbreaking storyline unravel again.
Actress Gemma recalled filming the scenes and why it was so important, as well as sharing her hopes of what the episodes might achieve all these years later.
Speaking exclusively to Mirror online, she said: "It was such an honour to be asked to portray the self-harm storyline.
"Especially being so young myself, I didn't really understand much about it and we of course wanted it to be right, so the team at Hollyoaks arranged an afternoon for me to meet a young girl who used to self harm.
"She talked me through why she did it, how it made her feel and how she got through it. She was amazingly brave and open with me and she helped me so much. The response we had was really positive and I’m glad Lisa’s storyline helped so many people.
"I’m hoping these re-runs will help those who need it too."
On why the storyline was so impacting on viewers, she added: "I think the story touched so many people because at the time it wasn't really heard of.
"It shocked people because many didn't understand it. Those that did self harm were just assumed to be 'weird' which was totally unfair.
"No TV show had ever done that storyline and it brought awareness to something a lot of people deal with. Hollyoaks took the risk and it paid off and helped so many which I’m extremely proud of."
It's a storyline and a character still associated with Gemma now, she confessed, despite her going on to appear in Emmerdale, Strictly Come Dancing amongst other things.
She explained: "I still get so many people mentioning Hollyoaks! It's crazy, the older generation mention Strictly or Emmerdale to me but people my age always remind me that their Sunday mornings were all about Hollyoaks and they loved it.
"I've had a few 'weren't you Lisa in Hollyoaks!' comments. It’s flattering in a way they still remember after 13 years."
* Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org
Hollyoaks airs Mondays to Fridays at 7pm on E4.
