Warren Fox - Character Creation and Development

Character Creation and Development

In May 2006, it was announced former Dream Team actor Jamie Lomas would arrive in Hollyoaks as "bad boy" Warren Fox. Along with his casting, it was announced his former Dream Team co-star Ricky Whittle would take on the part of "mysterious" Calvin Valentine. Speaking of Lomas and Whittle's casting, a Hollyoaks spokesperson stated: "We're delighted to welcome Ricky and Jamie to the Hollyoaks cast. Their characters are set to bring lots of drama to the show!"

Warren immediately showed a confrontational personality from his original appearance on Hollyoaks. He always put himself first, and would do anything to get what he wants involving money, women and business opportunities. Warren is selfish, arrogant and devious.

Following the announcement of Warren's return in October 2010, Jamie Lomas was asked whether he thought the character would have changed since his last appearance. He replied, "I don't think you can really change a character like Warren. I think it would be a little boring if he came back as some sort of softie but, like I say, there are new people around now for him to bounce off." Mr Warren spits in Bert Bradys face as he is lead away by cops.

In 2009, Jamie Lomas decided to quit the soap after three years. Speaking of his decision, Lomas stated: "I've had a fantastic three years at Hollyoaks but having fully explored the character, I felt the time was right for me to move on. I'm delighted to be going out as part of such a dramatic storyline and my final scenes are some of the most dramatic I've ever filmed. I'm sure viewers will be hooked!" He continued to say: "I've had a great time playing Warren and have thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Hollyoaks cast where I've made some brilliant friends and worked with some great people."

During an interview with Digital Spy, Lomas admitted he initially wanted to stay on the show for only two years: "Well I wanted to go after two years. I sat down with Bryan Kirkwood who told me what he had in store and it was too good to refuse! The storyline was so fantastic." He later revealed how he felt about his final appearance, admitting: "To be honest with you, when I knew I was filming my final scene — obviously I've spent three years of my life there and I've got lots of good friends there - I got really emotional. I had to take myself off and have a word with myself and say 'Come on — you need to pull it together!' It was great because all the producers came down and clapped me and bought me a bottle of champagne. It was very emotional."

Lomas's final appearance as Warren also saw the return of Gemma Bissix's character, and Warren's enemy, Clare Devine, and featured a fire in The Loft, which caused Warren's death.

In October 2010, it was announced Lomas would be reintroduced to Hollyoaks in late 2010, when it is revealed that he in fact survived the fire. Series producer Paul Marquess commented on Warren's return, saying: "We were hopeful that Jamie's return would be the best-kept secret in soap history, but when Jamie arrived on set it proved impossible. When Warren Fox died in the Loft fire, we all thought that was the end of the dangerous gangster that terrorised the residents of Hollyoaks village. But when our writers made the shocking suggestion to bring back Warren in a juicy plot, it was just too irresistible to ignore as they not only made it feasible that Warren could have escaped the fire and fled the village, they created an explosive and very clever plot with lots of twists and turns that is guaranteed to have the audience hooked. When the idea was pitched to Jamie, he knew it was too good an opportunity to miss. Warren Fox was one of the soap's most memorable villains and we're very excited about his return." He returned on 29 October 2010.

Lomas later expressed his feelings about returning, saying: "I'm really excited. I got the call and I got told about the storyline and it was great — full of twists and turns. I kind of thought that my character had run his course with the other characters that were around before, but there's a new breed in now, so that means plenty of potential for Warren to come back in and cause some more mayhem."

Speaking of the explanation for Warren surviving, Lomas said, "The saving grace was that they never actually saw my body — all they saw was me getting hit by a mirror. So we're going to do a whole storyline on how Warren got out, what happened and whose body it was that they found badly burnt. It's really exciting and I think the fans are going to love it." On-screen, flashback sequences were filmed to show how Warren survived the fire. Hollyoaks announced a special episode centred around Warren and how he survived the fire to be broadcast on 1 December 2010, shown to viewers in various flashbacks.

In August 2011, it was announced that Lomas had decided to leave the serial once again. Lomas filmed his final scenes in October 2011. His departure was broadcast on 23 December 2011.