Gregory Finnegan says 'Hollyoaks' fans can "thank him" for James Sutton's return after he "egged" his pal on to see if he could come back to the soap.
Gregory Finnegan as James
The 39-year-old actor - who plays James Nightingale on the Channel 4 soap - was talking to James (John Paul McQueen) about his potential return earlier this year, and is pleased he encouraged him to speak to the show's bosses about it ahead of the star's upcoming 'Hollyoaks' comeback.
He told BANG Showbiz: "We're really good mates, we're writing partners, so I see him a lot anyway.
"We were having discussions about it in the early part of the year.
"He said, 'Do you think there would be any interest in that?'
"I egged him on to get in touch and he was like, 'Oh OK.'
"So I'm basically ... you can thank me.
"We're all really pleased."
But Gregory stopped short of directly asking the 'Hollyoaks' head honchos about James' potential return.
Asked if he had a sneaky word with executive producer Bryan Kirkwood about James coming back to the village, he added: "No, I thought he could do that himself. I'd keep out of it.
"I don't have that kind of sway. I'd love to say I did."
Gregory's latest big storyline has seen his character James named as one of the seven suspects in the Who Shot Mercedes whodunit after Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe) was gunned down in The Loft.
But the star recently admitted he didn't even realise his alter-ego was going to be a part of the plot until he was called to do a promo photoshoot.
He said: "We got called in to do a photoshoot and I didn't know what it was for.
"So I was like, 'What's all this?' They said, 'It's for the Who Shot Mercedes story,' and I was like, 'Oh, great, OK. Am I part of that then?'
"I had a meeting with Bryan the next day and he spelled out what my involvement would be.
"We all got pulled in individually because he wanted to keep the circle tight, so it doesn't get revealed before it has to."
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