'Hollyoaks' Silas plot deals with serious issue, says Jeff Rawle

Hollyoaks star Jeff Rawle has revealed that he will be thrilled if his dark storyline helps to encourage young people to stay safe on the internet.

The actor has spent almost a year in the role of evil Silas Blissett, who has murdered India Longford, Rebecca Massey and Rae Wilson since making his debut on screen last December.

Silas's sinister antics have often stemmed from online chatrooms, where he has lured girls to meet him by using a variety of aliases.

Rawle told Live With Gabby today: "There is a serious backstory to it, and that's why I went into the show in a sense - when they explained how they were going to do it. It was about internet dating and the dangers, especially among young students.

"Children are quite heavily protected, and when they're out of that environment, suddenly they can become prey to people who are extremely skilful at putting out aliases and photos.

"Of course we all want to trust - that's a natural basic instinct in people, but it can lead people down the wrong alley and there have been some awful cases of 18, 19-year-olds being led astray by these monsters."

Rawle added that viewers will be seeing a lot more of Silas over the next few weeks. As reported yesterday, he is about to set a sick challenge for his arch-nemesis Lynsey Nolan (Karen Hassan), ordering her to correctly guess his next target if she wants to stop him from killing again.

"That's what we're dealing with over the next few weeks," he explained. "I'm in every show every night, I think. We've done an awful lot of filming, that's for sure - a lot of 15-hour days. Silas's story is really powering through now. He's really on a mission and he's taken on Lynsey."

Hollyoaks continues tonight at 6.30pm on Channel 4 and 7pm on E4.

> Hollyoaks' Silas plot reaches "awful climax", says Jeff Rawle
> Hollyoaks' Silas plot gives me butterflies, says Karen Hassan
> Hollyoaks' Silas role is the best part, says Jeff Rawle
> Read more Hollyoaks spoilers and news

Rewatch Silas and Lynsey's recent showdown below: