Hollyoaks exit confirmed for popular star Ava Webster as Ro role is re-cast to trans actor

She has captivated a nation with moving, often harrowing and deeply mature performances as Ro Hutchinson, but now child star Ava Webster is saying goodbye to Hollyoaks as newcomer and trans actor Leo Cole, 17, taking over the role.

Throughout a poignant and groundbreaking gender identity story, Ava has played out a difficult journey for Ro, who came out as transgender in his early teenage years.

But while Ava will miss everyone at the show, she was entirely prepared for a trans actor to replace her in the part once Ro reached a certain age and the change will take place in Hollyoaks’ 30th anniversary episodes.

I took the chance to catch up with Ava, who admitted to being relieved to have some normality in her all important Year 11 studies as she is finally able to attend school on a regular basis to prepare for her exams.

And she looks at her time in the show with warmth and gratitude, accepting with maturity that it had to come to an end.

She told Metro: ‘I knew I couldn’t do it anymore with Ro transitioning – I can’t make that commitment.

‘Not only that, but it’s also the right of a trans person to take on that role, because they’ve genuinely experienced this stuff, and I haven’t. I’ve done what I could with it, but now is the right time in my opinion.’

Ava was just 15 when she portrayed a special standalone episode that saw Ro contemplate taking his own life after a bullying campaign over his gender identity.

It led to the character making a call to a trans youth helpline which helped Ro see another chance at life.

It’s something that Ava looks back on with pride, particularly due to the many reactions from fans she has had over the years from viewers.

‘I was so happy with the way it came out,’ she smiled. ‘It was a really long few days; we spent a whole day in the bedroom set. The amount of messages I got saying: “This made me cry, this is amazing”, genuinely, every hard aspect disappeared because the result was so overwhelmingly great.’

And newcomer Leo, whose own experiences – including coming out at the age of 12 and enduring bullying at school – are mirrored by Ro, is full of praise for Ava’s handling of the issues.

‘I think Ava played Ro absolutely remarkably so I’m trying to take as much as I can from Ava but also put my own self into the character and progress the character.

‘I think Ava did such an amazing job of helping Ro through his story and leading the character to the point now. It’s really important that that happened and that Ava was so brilliant and, yeah, she was really lovely to watch on screen and she portrayed a trans character so well. It was really nice to watch.’

It’s a sentiment shared by many who have engaged with the journey or Ro so far, with a humble but grateful Ava saying: ‘I think it’s the sweetest thing ever. I’m so happy that my take on the role has inspired so many people and helped them get through their struggles.

‘I’ve always loved Ro as a character. Obviously, I didn’t understand the full aspect of it, but he was a very reasonable character. I’m happy to be seen as that.’

Meet Leo Cole, who will take over the character of Ro!

At the age of 17, Ro is Leo’s first professional part and he is grabbing the opportunity with both hands, grateful as a member of the trans community to be able to showcase parts of his own similar journey through Ro.

Like his new alter-ego, Leo came out at the age of 12 and, while he had a rough time through high school and endured many of the ordeals that Ro faced too, he also boasts a wonderful support network, not least of all his greatest supporter – his mum.

‘I would not be here without my mum, she’s my biggest support system, she has done so much for me, it’s brilliant to be able to do something like this and see how proud she is,’ Leo said in a chat with Metro. ‘She’s always been so proud but that’s why it’s been so lovely to be able to prove myself a little bit. She’s trusted me a lot with what I’ve wanted to do and she’s always been really open.’

Leo will first appear as Ro at Diane and Tony’s wedding and he admits to having a lot of nerves on his first day but describes it as an unforgettable experience.

He recalled: ‘I actually had my first scene with Alex Fletcher. I’d met her previously on the introduction day and she was so welcoming and so understanding and so were the directors – everybody on set was so lovely. Because it’s my first job, I’m only 17, so everybody had that knowledge of; “he might not be knowing of what certain things are so let’s just give him a little bit of extra time and help him settle in”

‘My take with Alex doing that first scene was amazing, she’s such a brilliant actress, so to play against her, I was like “oh my days”, I couldn’t stop smiling, she was amazing.’

‘It means a lot,’ he told me in a deeply eloquent and warm chat, adding that he is honoured, proud and excited to land the role. And, in preparation, he watched through all of Ava’s episodes and was wowd by Hollyoaks’ care and representation of the trans community.

He added: ‘I think it’s really important for the show to take this angle on it and it’s quite hard as a trans person to go online, look on your phone and scroll through and see all these negative things because a lot of the time, a lot of the stuff on the media is negative about trans people because it gets more clicks.

‘Whereas in real life, we’re just people, so it’s really nice that Hollyoaks has opened the doors to the reality of that and been able to be like “actually, no, we’re gonna portray the character as the every day person that people are.”‘

You can read my full interview with Leo next week on site or sign up for my exclusive soaps newsletter landing in inboxes every Friday to hear even more from both Leo and Ava.

And Ro clearly means a lot to her as she pledges to continue watching Hollyoaks to see where he goes next.

‘I 100% think that Ro should have a happy route at some point,’ she declared. ‘The storylines I did were very sad. It was alright for me to do, but I know a lot of people felt bad for him. I hope that Ro gets to experience some happier events.’

A fan of the horror genre, Ava is keen to get her teeth into a much different role when she takes up acting once more but for now, she is happy to focus on her studies and come away with some good grades after a hectic few years in the spotlight.

But she comes away with some life-affirming experiences at the show, telling me: ‘I think it’s matured me in the best way possible. I’ve noticed that I’m so happy and eager to talk to people at school, and before Hollyoaks, I wasn’t.

‘It’s made me more extroverted and a friendlier person. To be on set with all of those adults, you have no chance to be childish. I can understand harder concepts now.

‘I’m pretty sure my highlight is the people. Everybody on that set is so kind and so sweet. Every day I went on that set, I loved it – everyone is so friendly.

‘I still talk to Dan [Hough] and I’m keeping in contact with Alex [Fletcher] and Nick [Pickard], Lacey [Findlow] and Will [Thompson] as well, we were all really close. They are my second family.’