Lauren McQueen thinks Malique Thompson-Dwyer's Muay Thai skills would help him in a fight with Owen Warner.

Lauren McQueen

Lauren McQueen

The 'Hollyoaks' actress - who plays Lily McQueen on the Channel 4 soap - has opened up about which of the two on screen love rivals she'd back in a real life scrap.

Putting some thought into it, she answered: "That's a hard one! I think it would be quite close, but Malique does Muay Thai, so he'd be able to do a lot of moves on Owen!"

Malique is set to make his return to the show after a break while he was in the jungle last year for 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!', and his character Prince McQueen will be angry to find out Lily has been rekindling her romance with his best friend Romeo Quinn (Owen) after he ran away from the village.

Although Lauren's alter ego will be having mixed feelings about Prince's return, the soap star admitted she is delighted to have her cast mate back on set.

She added: "Lily is frustrated and heartbroken that Prince disappeared. Although she is angry, she still loves him deep down, and doesn't want to hurt him when he finds out about Romeo.

"I couldn't stop smiling when Malique was back on set. I missed him so much! It was good to have his energy back on set and laugh all day."

Malique recently opened up about his break, and he admitted it was difficult to immediately "settle" back into his day job.

He said: "When I first came back on set, I was a bit rusty with my acting! I don't know why, but when I returned for my first scene, I felt as if I'd been out of work for ages. I've settled in again now, though."