'Hollyoaks' star praises lack of stereotypes

Hollyoaks newcomer Lena Kaur has praised producers for not stereotyping Asians on the programme.

The actress, who plays Leila Roy, revealed that she has been impressed with her character's storylines since she joined the show alongside Stephen Uppal, better known as her on-screen brother Ravi, earlier this year.

Kaur told Take 5 magazine: "The storylines for me and Stephen aren't being dictated by the colour of our skin. We're both British Asians in real life as well as in the show. We are both totally westernised. We've been brought up in Britain, so the storylines will reflect people like Stephen and me."

Lena also admitted that she was asked to pose in her underwear for the Hollyoaks calendar before she had even filmed a scene for the Channel 4 soap.

"The calendar is a great tradition on the show and there are only 12 girls in it, so I was so flattered to be asked," she said. "I think if you're going to play a part on the show, you might as well do it properly and do all the promotional stuff for it as well."