Character Creation and Casting
The character of Zak was created as a new student along with Bella Manning, to move in the halls of residence at the HCC. He was originally billed as "footie-mad, a Scouser with attitude and more than an eye for the ladies!" After the character's initial stint he was brought back into the series and later relatives of the character were introduced. During the character's first stint he was credited as Zak Barnes. At the time he re-entered the series in 2006 his surname had been changed to Ramsey due to the arrival of the separate Barnes family during the intervening period.
Auditions were already underway for the part of Zak, when actor Kent Riley received a call from his agent, he auditioned for the role, later going onto to be cast as Zak. After leaving the series Riley received a call being asking him to rejoin the cast for a more permanent stint.
In early 2010 it was announced that Allan had stepped down from the position of executive producer, with Paul Marquess taking over the role. It was soon revealed that he planned revamp Hollyoaks, changing the productions team, then began a cast cull starting with the axing of three established characters. Stephanie Waring (who plays Cindy Hutchinson) then revealed that all remaining cast members feared their characters would be next to depart from the series. One month later the cast cull continued as Marquess announced his plans to axe a further 11 characters, including Zak at the end of Riley's contract. It was stated that the character will simply move on to pastures new at the end of his storyline-arc.
Read more about this topic: Zak Ramsey
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