“I didn’t kill Ella!”

Hollyoaks star Iz Hesketh has joked that she’s fed up with the ongoing fan theory which blames her character Kitty Draper for Ella Richardson’s death.

Kitty made her dramatic debut on the Channel 4 soap as part of January’s road disaster stunt, which saw Ella get knocked over by Ste Hay in a tragic accident.

Although Ste has accepted responsibility for Ella’s death, many viewers have expected Kitty to eventually be exposed as the guilty party. The theory has been widely shared on forums and social media over the past few months.

Iz caught up with Digital Spy while taking part in Hollyoaks’ nominees photoshoot for the Inside Soap Awards 2024.

We were given exclusive video access on the day and you can see our full behind-the-scenes footage at the top of the page.

Reflecting on January’s crash, Iz told Digital Spy: “It was unreal. On my first day of filming, I was trying to scramble out of a car in a micro mini-skirt and a massive fur coat!

“It was really, really camp but I slipped and nearly broke my arse!”

However, she jokingly added: “I didn’t kill Ella – I’m so bored of it, leave me alone! I didn’t kill her, Ste did! Stop tweeting me!”

Iz has been nominated for the Best Newcomer prize at the Inside Soap Awards after Kitty’s involvement in several key storylines this year.

Reflecting on her time with the show so far, she continued: “I’ve worked so hard these past nine months to deliver a character that is loveable, flawed and fun. It feels really nice to be nominated.

“I always guessed that if Kitty was anything like me, she wouldn’t exactly have a mundane life. I did know what was coming up – I knew certain story plots that would be dropped in among my first year here.

“It’s definitely been interesting to reach the peak and then trough and then find out what the next peak is. That’s been really, really cool.”

She added: “I loved the bar scene with Lily [Best, who played Lizzie] and Charlie [Clapham, who plays Freddie] where we were trying to get Freddie into a fake throuple!

“That was really fun. Lily has become one of my absolute soul sisters and Charlie’s such a sweetheart.

“Being able to, and being trusted to, do the conversion therapy storyline was really important to me. It’s kind of the whole reason I was brought here and there’s hopefully going to be a ban on conversion therapy now after the new government coming in.

“That was all I wanted for the storyline – to spark some sort of change. So even if that’s not me, I’m glad it’s happening.”

On why fans should vote for Hollyoaks, Iz added: “We have always and will always be the soap of diversity. We have always had people of colour, we have always had different genders, different sexualities.

“We are the soap that I feel best reflects the world as it actually is, and that’s why you should vote for Hollyoaks.”