Matt Wilson is in the UK this week for Neighbours exciting and explosive Hotel Death Trap storyline, and has spent the beginning of the week in an exclusive event with fans of the soap checking out the hour-long special episode which saw character Josh Wilding die in hugely emotional scenes.
Matt Wilson as Aaron Brennan
We got the chance earlier today (April 5) to have a quick chat with Matt all about the storylines unfolding this week, just how his character Aaron Brennan will be involved going forward and more - read on to find out what he had to say...
It's Hotel Death Trap week in Neighbours - what should fans and viewers expect from episodes now we've seen our hour-long opener?
They've done it in a pretty cool format. The explosion is the one hour special, then every day for the rest of the week, a new hotel door opens because there are a lot of characters staying inside the hotel that night. Every day it explores the story of what happened to them, where they were, what their intentions were and who was involved. There's lots of teasers all the way through as to who might have caused the explosion and who was doing something bad and why they could be guilty.
Dr Karl (Alan Fetcher) and Sarah (Nicola Charles) - they've got a bit coming up soon. It sort of unveils... It's almost like a crime series, the rest of the week!
Last night (April 4) was the first time the UK has ever shown an episode of Neighbours ahead of Australia - how did it feel to be a part of that?
Yeah, it was good. Ever since I started - we've only caught up so we're all at the same time a few months ago - but since I started you've got that two week delay, so you can't really put anything online. So much is online now, it's hard to avoid shows being spoiled and stuff like that, so being able to have everything be a complete mystery - that just adds that extra level of excitement for people, because they are seeing something first. The UK is where our biggest audience is, so if we can give the UK what they want, that makes us happy.
How will viewers see your character Aaron Brennan slotted into this story this week?
Aaron's story becomes more intense actually next week where we find out that Aaron's got quite a guilty conscience about something. This week you'll see that something is eating him up, but nobody knows what it is. Then eventually it sort of all unravels next week and the following week after with Nate, his ex-boyfriend returning to town without telling him again. [He's] asking where they stand in a romance.
Then there's something else eating Aaron up so, that's where the heavily involved part is for me. A lot of secrets!
What does Nate's return mean for Aaron in the long run?
In the long run they've got a lot of stuff to sort out. Nate and Aaron are absolute opposites, you know the old thing, 'opposites attract', I think eventually you have to meet in the middle, and Nate and Aaron have a lot of trouble trying to meet in the middle.
They've got a lot of questions to answer and, they may or may not get back together! (laughs)
Viewers saw Josh (Harley Bonner) killed on the show last night, have you had chance to see initial reaction from fans to the start of the week yet?
What I've seen is a lot of stuff on Twitter, and we had a fan event yesterday (April 4) where we got to see the hour-long special exclusively with a bunch of fans. We were in like a little cinema and as soon as it finished the lights came back on, you turned around and everyone was crying. You could hear people sniffling in the corner and on Twitter, everyone, even big burly men have been tweeting saying that they're crying and everything.
Watching it myself and even talking about it is actually making me well up a little. I don't know if that's a bit heightened for me because I know Harley as a good friend and, just imagining what that would be like.
They played it out so well, I'm so proud of everyone involved in it.
We know others will die this week - can you give us any clues or teasers about that?
Others will die! (laughs) I've seen a lot of people speculating. Before Josh's episode last night, a lot of people [were] speculating who the two people that will die are, and a lot of people actually guessed Josh, but the other one, nobody has gotten anywhere near it so far.
This is obviously a major stunt and storyline to pull off, so what was the experience like on-set when filming?
Yeah, so we filmed this over the period of two weeks, this whole sort of storyline. Inside the green room, I'm not just trying to expand on this, but the whole production, everyone involved, there was a different vibe in the air when we were filming it. In the green room usually you come in and out and people are laughing and making jokes and stuff, but for two weeks solid, the girls would come in and they'd just been crying [with] all their makeup down their face. Then they would just sit at the table and they'd just be sobbing because they were on a roll from what they'd just done on set. Everyone was shaking their heads just going, 'This is messed up, this is hard work', and it was hard work. Everyone was absolutely exhausted after filming it. I wish every day was like that, but I think the reality is nobody's got the energy to do that!
I imagine when filming something like this the cast and crew really come together?
They do, they do. And when you've got people playing emotions like of somebody dying, you personalise it a lot. Everyone went to really deep, deep dark places inside their heads. Everyone is always supportive. The camera guys, the directors, everyone who needed space, they gave them space. They gave them support, gave them time out. People were going having sleeps during the day just because they were so exhausted.
As you mentioned the storyline's sort of like a crime series - how does that work? Do the cast immediately know who's responsible for the explosion or is it fed to the actors piece by piece just like the viewers?
It's exactly like that. We asked the storyline guys, we said, 'guys tell us what's gonna happen'. They told us months in advance that there is gonna be an explosion, that's gonna be the big storyline, then you try and find out who's involved and they won't tell you. Week by week you get your new scripts and inside the scripts is a clue as to how you might be involved. So we're all in the green room trying to figure out who's responsible! (laughs)
Ah, who knows? Who knows? (laughs) [I'm giving away] nothing at all! We've put so much effort into it, I can't just lose it all in one go. (laughs)
Neighbours airs on Channel 5, weekdays - 1.45pm & 5.30pm. #HotelDeathTrap
Tagged in Neighbours Matt Wilson