A former Hollyoaks actor who found work drying up after the pandemic decided to pursue a different career in roofing to make ends meet and supplement his income

An actor who once had a hard hitting storyline in Hollyoaks says it was tough being recognised by customers when he started his new job as a roofer.

He played Jason Roscoe in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks for three years and has also starred in The Bill, Walking Dead and Doctors. But during the Covid pandemic Alfie Browne-Sykes found that acting roles were thin on the ground so he had to look elsewhere for work to support his family. Alfie, 29, took on a job as a roofer and shared a time lapse video of himself and a colleague hard at work on roofs. He also revealed he found it really difficult at first being recognised by customers when he turned up for jobs. Talking on the Joseph James’s Just Real podcast he said: “Going to work every day, working on people’s roofs and them recognising you from Hollyoaks is a hard thing to deal with at first – especially when they make comments and don’t realise what they are saying to you.”

Alfie started working as a roofer when acting roles dried up (Image: Instagram)

During his time on the soap he was involved in a storyline where his character suffered from body dysmorphia – a condition which means sufferers have a distorted perception of what they look like. Jason wanted to bulk up but was eventually diagnosed with anorexia by his doctor. When he began to lose his sight because the illness he had to spend several months in an eating disorder clinic.

When he left Hollyoaks Alfie starred in Tracy Beaker spin-off Dumping Ground before embarking on a theatre tour of Sebastian Faulks’ war drama, Birdsong. However, when he stopped getting work he said his mental health took a dive and he “lost all sense of direction,” for a while.

He previously said of the battle to land roles: “I’m just trying to crack on with my acting, trying to pursue that career. It’s a lot tougher than people think. It’s a lot of waiting for the right opportunities to pop, especially with all the sh*t at the minute.” On his Instagram account Alfie, a keen boxer, has shared his fitness journey and showed the results of the health kick he’s been on. He also revealed he proposed to his long term girlfriend Aimee earlier this year with an image of her showing off the rock he bought her for an engagement ring and captioned it: “Mr & Mrs Browne-Sykes to be.”