Sienna Blake
| Sienna Blake | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Hollyoaks character | |||||||||||||||||||
| File:Sienna Blake.png | |||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Anna Passey | ||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2012— | ||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 21 November 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Bryan Kirkwood | ||||||||||||||||||
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Sienna Blake is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Anna Passey. The character made her first on-screen appearance on 21 November 2012. Emily Lawrance was originally cast to portray the character before the role was recast. Passey's casting was announced in October 2012 and it was revealed that Sienna would be introduced as the twin sister of established character Dodger Savage (Danny Mac).
Sienna's storylines have involved her trying to take over Nancy's life and place in the Osborne family, developing a relationship with Darren and trying to find her long-lost daughter Sophie.
Casting and character creation
The character of Sienna was announced on 7 October 2012, with Emily Lawrance cast in the role.[1] However, the role was recast with Passey before the character made her on-screen debut.[2] Sienna is the twin sister of Dodger Savage (Danny Mac), the twin sibling Dodger never knew he had.[2] Passey made her first on-screen appearance as Sienna in the episode broadcast on 21 November 2012.[3]
Development
Characterisation
Sienna Blake is beautiful, clever and calculating, often keeping secrets from those around her. A troubled girl with serious insecurities, Sienna conceals her cold, cynical and manipulative behaviour beneath a charming, warm exterior. This conflicting personality has allowed Sienna to lure many into her web of lies and deceit...
In an interview with Digital Spy Passey described Sienna as a "bit of a villain" with a more "complicated" narrative.[4] When she joined the show, Passey was disclosed the background of Sienna's character by the producers, "I knew all about her upbringing and the problems she'd had with her family."[4] On the characters background Passey said, "She's had quite an unusual upbringing, because she's never really had any friends. Normally, most people learn how to socialise and form relationships with people as they grow up, but Sienna has missed out on all of that. She's only ever really had her father."[4]
Passey opined that Sienna is not a "evil".[5] Speaking to Inside Soap, Passey said: "With her upbringing, she isn't an out-and-out evil person. She really believes she's got her reasons to do what she does."[5]
Storylines
Dodger tracks his father Patrick Blake (Jeremy Sheffield) down. When he visits him he meets Sienna. Dodger and friend Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson) introduce themselves under the pretense of carrying out a consensus. Sienna allows them into her house. Patrick questions if they are official, he discovers they are not and assumes that Dodger and Darren are trying to con him. Dodger reveals he is Patrick's son. Patrick is adamant that his son Mark, which is Dodger's real name, is dead, because that's what Dodger's mum Anna Blake (Saskia Wickham) told him years ago. After Dodger proves his real identity, Patrick reveals Sienna is his twin sister.
Sienna starts to create an unhealthy obsession with the Osborne family and particularly Darren and Nancy's (Jessica Fox) relationship. She manages to break the couple up by revealing Nancy's painkiller addiction. When this is revealed, Nancy punches Sienna across the face in front of Darren and his father Jack (Jimmy McKenna), and she forces Darren to choose between her and Sienna; Darren chooses Sienna. Sienna then fakes a pregnancy to keep Darren interested in her, and she manages to have Nancy run over by distracting her with her baby son, Oscar. Nancy soon recovers, and is then involved in a car accident when Sienna tricks her into running away with Oscar and her nephew, Charlie Dean (Charlie Behan)
Sienna manages to convince everybody in the village that Nancy overpowered her and kidnapped the children, resulting in Nancy being arrested. However, Sienna's lies become increasingly harder to carry out when she has to buy a fake baby bump and does not allow Darren anywhere near her in fear of him discovering the truth. When Nancy is released, the women's feud continues but Nancy is unable to convince Darren and the Osbornes that Sienna is lying. When Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins) sets up a camera in her room and views footage of Sienna readjusting her baby bump, he confronts her in the street just as a bomb goes off at the local flats, injuring the majority of the village. Sienna however is unharmed and kidnaps Tom, keeping him in her old home's basement and leading him to believe that she is protecting him from going to prison as she lies and explains that Tom caused the explosion and Darren had died in the debris.
However, Sienna's plan backfires when Tom decides that he wants to own up to causing Darren's "death" and escapes the basement, unaware that Sienna and the rest of her family are being held captive upstairs by Will Savage (James Atherton). Tom is startled by the sound of a gun going off and falls down the stairs, hitting his head. Later on, when Sienna has escaped and the police have finished looking through the house, Sienna returns and agrees to take Tom to the hospital when he fakes slipping unconscious. However, Tom escapes and contacts Nancy, but Sienna catches him before he can say anything. Eventually, Tom is discovered and Sienna's fake pregnancy is uncovered by Nancy at Sienna and Darren's engagement party, but Sienna avoids capture, stalking the Osbornes once again.
When the Osbornes let their guard down, Sienna kidnaps Oscar, Tom and Charlie and holds them captive in a car, locking herself in the local garage and attempting to gas them all. However, the villagers discover what is going on and free the children, and Sienna is sectioned. However, Nancy's body is discovered in the boot of the car, having been seriously injured in a fight with Sienna earlier when she attempted to stop Sienna from taking the children. Nancy slips into a coma and is left brain damaged, and Sienna is put into a mental hospital.
When Nancy recovers, she visits Sienna and taunts her, before returning home to the village. Sienna reveals that she had a little girl called Sophie when she was thirteen but Patrick took her off her and later told her that Sophie had passed away. Dodger then visits Sienna when local boy Jason Roscoe (Alfie Browne-Sykes) finds pictures of a young girl in Patrick's chest and Sienna discovers they are of Sophie, who did not die as an infant as previously thought. Sienna is then released when the judge deems her fit to live in the public again and returns to Hollyoaks village, becoming convinced that local girl Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell) is her daughter, but she is subjected to discrimination from everybody in the village besides her family. Tom and Peri begin a hate campaign against Sienna, throwing eggs at her in the street and putting up posters in the village that she is not fit to be in the public.
When Sienna and Dodger are involved in an argument with Nancy and Darren about Tom's behaviour, Tom steals Sienna's medication and this causes Sienna to black out at random times in the day. Tom and Peri then kidnap Peri's niece Rose and place her in Sienna's flat, framing her for the kidnapping when a major police investigation is launched in an attempt for Sienna to be arrested and due to her black outs, Sienna also believes she kidnapped Rose and refuses to flee the village with Dodger, but the truth is eventually revealed and Tom and Peri are given cautions by the police. Sienna then continues her search of Sophie, still being sure that Peri is her little girl.
Sienna befriends Leela by faking a shoulder injury and trashing her flat. She moves in with Leela but Danny and Sam tell her to leave but when Sienna trashes the flat again, they relent. Sienna takes her's and Peri's passports, planning to flee with her after Sienna takes Peri to see the Vamps in Manchester. The Lomaxes believe Sienna has kidnapped Peri and Leela reveals to Sienna that Peri is actually in fact her daughter.
Reception
Passey was nominated for Best Bitch at the 2013 Inside Soap Awards.[6] Also, the storyline of Sienna plotting to steal Nancy's life was nominated for Best Storyline.[6] At the 2014 National Television Awards, she received a nomination for "Most Popular Newcomer".[7] Tina Campbell of Metro praised Passey's portrayal of the character and stated that despite her many flaws "you can’t help but love Sienna".[8] Katie Archer of BT describes Sienna as "sweet and innocent", but "on the inside, things are far uglier."[9] MSN.com labeled the character as a "psychopath".[10]
See also
References
- ^ Kilkelly, Daniel. "Exclusive: 'Hollyoaks' Dodger Savage to discover twin sister". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ a b Kilkelly, Daniel (26 October 2012). "'Hollyoaks': Cindy's daughter Holly returning to soap". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (13 November 2012). "3478: Dodger decides to meet his real dad". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ a b c Kilkelly, Daniel (30 May 2013). "'Hollyoaks': Anna Passey teases shock fire, Sienna Blake future". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ a b Taylor, Frances (4 July 2013). "'Hollyoaks' Anna Passey on Sienna: 'I don't think she could kill'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ a b "Coronation Street leads Inside Soap Awards nominations". virginmedia.com. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ "National Television Awards 2014: full list of winners". telegraph.co.uk. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ Campbell, Tina (3 March 2014). "From her scheming ways to her dreamy brother Dodger: Why Sienna is the best character in Hollyoaks right now". metro.co.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ Archer, Katie (18 August 2013). "Hollyoaks' Sienna Blake - exclusive soap chat". Bt.com. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ "Anna Passey: Sienna couldn't kill". MSN.com. 5 July 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2014.