Reception
Gemma Bissix became the first actress from Hollyoaks to win 'Villain of the Year' at the British Soap Awards in 2007. Gemma was also nominated for 'Best Actress' the very same year, and won the award for 'Best Exit' in 2008. The scene in which Clare and Katy Fox drive over the cliff also won the award for 'Spectacular Scene of the Year'. The character was selected as one of the "top 100 British soap characters" by industry experts for a poll to be run by What's on TV, with readers able to vote for their favourite character to discover "Who is Soap's greatest Legend?"
Before her portrayal of Clare, Bissix played Clare Bates in BBC One soap-opera EastEnders. In 2008, after her departure from Hollyoaks, Bissix returned to EastEnders. It was noted that the 2008 "minx" version of Clare Bates was similar to the character Clare Devine. Despite them being entirely different characters, it was suggested in The Herald that Gemma Bissix actually reprised the role between the two soaps. Bissix has acknowledged the comparison between the two characters, but maintains that they differ: "A lot of people ask me this. Clare Bates is a minx and dresses to impress, using her sexuality to get where she wanted Clare Devine doesn't have the emotion Clare Bates does. Clare Devine kills people, she tells little children that they're the reason for their parents' death!"
Radio Times listed Clare at number one in their feature on 'bunny boilers'. Describing Clare they stated: "Devine by name, devilish by nature she made enemies easily". They opined about the Who pushed Clare storyline stating: "when she was pushed over a balcony and almost killed, the list of suspects was longer than the electoral roll." They also stated they had a feeling it wasn't the last viewers would see of Clare.
Read more about this topic: Clare Devine
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)