Gemma Oaten says soap bosses have a “duty of care” for their young cast members, after Hollyoaks star Stephanie Davies was sacked from the show for turning up drunk.

Steph was fired over the summer, with the Channel 4 soap confirming she had been “unfit work for work due to alcohol consumption” - but Gemma says that she sympathises with the young actress.

Steph was fired in July for being “unfit to work because of alcohol consumption”, but ex-Emmerdale star Gemma says bosses at the Channel 4 soap should have done more to help the 22-year-old.

Gemma, 31, says: “Soaps do have a duty of care to look after their younger stars. You don’t shroud them in cotton wool, but you do look out for them and protect them.”
Steph joined the show as Sinead O’Connor when she was just 16 and Gemma says: “I feel sorry for her. I think she’s obviously fallen into a trap and she’s not been surrounded by the right people.

“I don’t know the circumstances. She might have hidden things. It’s difficult without knowing all the ins and outs.”

Gemma, who played Rachel Breckle on ITV1’s Emmerdale for four years, says staff there were always supportive with cast members’ problems

Her final scenes aired last month, but she remembers her time on the show fondly.

She says: “Emmerdale are on top of things like that. If there’s anything going on, it’s not a disciplinary. It’s more like, ‘Come on, let’s talk. Why are you struggling today?’

“When I suffered a bereavement with my grandad recently the love and care I had the next day at work was brilliant. Emmerdale was like family.
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