Rumours have been swirling that actress Nikki Sanderson is preparing to leave Hollyoaks after more than a decade playing resilient but troubled Maxine Minniver. The decision to walk away was an “incredibly difficult” one, as she confirms the news for the first time in this exclusive photoshoot and interview. But a combination of turning 40, having the support of actor boyfriend Anthony Quinlan, 39, and a decade spent delivering some of the soap’s most harrowing scenes, all helped her decide it was the right time.
And while she made the leap without a new job lined up, Blackpool-born Nikki reveals she would be open to jumping the soap ship and wouldn’t totally rule out a return to the cobbles of Corrie. “Deciding to leave was an incredibly difficult decision for me because Maxine is a huge, huge part of my life – and a part of my life that I’ve loved,” she tells us.
“It’s difficult to think, ‘It’s time’, and it wasn’t an instant or overnight decision, it took me a long time to make it and it was something I genuinely fought with myself about, but I’m lucky that I could talk to people around me and get people’s opinions. “I’m grateful that I’ve had the stability for so long, now I’ve just got to embrace the instability of not knowing what’s next.”
Another contributing factor, she says, was turning 40 last year. While she had no fear of getting older – and actually thinks this is going to be her best decade yet – the milestone triggered some self reflection.
“It feels like yesterday that I turned 21, but it also feels like it was 222 years ago,” she says, laughing. “I know I’m older, and time is going fast, but I want to embrace it and be excited about my forties. I’m more confident and comfortable in myself than I used to be, and I want to make the most of whatever exciting things might come my way.”
One of her current favourite “things” is her boyfriend of three-and-a-half years, Hollyoaks alumni Anthony who played Gilly Roach from 2005 to 2011. The couple, who live together in the North West, confirmed their romance in 2022 but keep their relationship largely private.
“I don’t like to talk too much about my personal life, but I will say I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, Anthony is incredible” she grins, when we ask about whether they’ve talked about marriage or babies. “I’m in a wonderful, happy relationship, so let’s see what the future holds! Anthony really is my rock, he’s been incredibly supportive of me in my tough decision to leave Hollyoaks.”
Having a fellow actor as a partner has also helped boost her confidence and lessen her worries about navigating what’s to come in terms of work. “He’s also been through similar experiences and can fully understand the emotions you go through when it comes to making huge life decisions like this,” she says.
“He’s also been in the same position as me in the past, deciding whether it’s the right time or not to leave a role. He knows it’s never an easy decision to make, which is why I’m thankful I’ve had his advice and support throughout it all. I know it’s corny to say but I’m very lucky that I’ve got a lot of people in my life that genuinely care about me and my life decisions, and Anthony is one of those people.”
Nikki made her first appearance on the Channel 4 soap as Maxine in November 2012, aged 28, after becoming a household name playing hairstylist Candice Stowe on Coronation Street from 1999 to 2005. After clocking up almost 400 episodes on Corrie, and another 500-plus on Hollyoaks, she plans to take full advantage of the opportunity to “decompress” and enjoy some much-loved Saturday lie-ins. “Of course I love what I do, it’s what I’ve done since I was young, so I’d love to dive straight into my next acting job if that’s a possibility, but actually for the first time in a long time I’m thinking, ‘Ooh if I want to go away this weekend, I can just go!’
“So I’m going to indulge in that a bit while I can, decompress and rest mentally and physically. I can recharge for a bit and then get cracking.” Nikki opened up a few years ago about struggling with depression in her twenties, and revealed that she relied on her incredible support network, especially her mum Jude, as well as therapy and medication to help her recover. Now that she’s the happiest she’s ever been, she tells us, she’s more comfortable sharing her experience.
“I’ve suffered in the past and I didn’t talk about it because, let’s face it, up until recently it was a bit of a taboo subject,” she shares. “I think it’s fantastic that nowadays people can openly talk about mental health. And if they’re struggling, there’s so many places and people and organisations to be able to get help. But I’m lucky that right now I’m in a really good place. Also, there’s a huge link between my physical and mental health, so when I’m working out and being healthy, I feel better about myself, and I think it radiates.” Nikki, who won the Inside Soap Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2023, has tackled some difficult topics as Maxine – from domestic abuse, coping with a terminal illness, ending a pregnancy and suffering Munchausen syndrome.
Despite the weeks and months spent filming what were sometimes extremely harrowing scenes, Nikki says she’s fiercely proud of her work, especially her domestic abuse storyline with co-star Jeremy Sheffield, who played Patrick Blake. She also filmed a special episode in 2022, The Long Walk Home, in which Maxine was violently attacked after finding herself navigating her way home alone after a girl’s night out. It was made with input from the Government’s Enough campaign, which tackles violence against females.
“What made it so great was not just how they wrote it and shot it, but how everything was so relatable,” Nikki says. “A lot of people could say, ‘I’ve been in that situation, I’ve felt those same feelings, I have felt that fear’. The whole thing was just phenomenal.”
Given how emotionally draining some of her storylines have been, how has she coped with the physical and emotional burden of her role for so long? “You need the support system,” she says. “If you were to stay in that state of mind for a long period of time it’s extremely difficult to break out or snap out of it. When I’ve been doing storylines like that I try to make sure that when I finish work, I mentally finish.
“So I’ll get on the phone to my partner, or to my family or my friends, and talk about happy things, good things, and make plans.” Nikki is very aware that she’s lucky enough to be able to “decompress” at the end of the day, and knows that many others aren’t so fortunate because “they’re living it, it’s their life”.
“Some of the storylines that I’m most grateful for have been really quite dark, and I like to really research topics and know what I’m doing, so I get very immersed in them,” she shares. “I know there are very real victims out there of these very real circumstances who will be watching and you want to do them justice for what they’ve been through, and the trauma they’ve been through.” While the details of her final scenes are top secret, Nikki reveals they’ll involve some of the cast she first filmed with, including Anna Passey (who plays Sienna Blake), Tamara Wall (Grace Black) and Danny Mac (Dodger Savage).
Her departure will be bittersweet as she’ll miss many of her co-stars, she says, but the friendships she has made will long outstay Maxine. After spending much of her working life on soaps, which were once considered in the industry as almost jobs for life, Nikki is excited – and understandably nervous – about dipping her toe back into the world of auditions. “Now you have show reels and self tapes, but I never had to do that as you were just in a room with a casting director,” she laughs. “It’s all about the digital CV, whereas before you had the Spotlight catalogue which was like a Yellow Pages for actors!
“I’m excited about learning about this new world but I also have fear because I’m under no illusions of how the industry works, and there’s always the potential that you’ll never work again. “But I want to be as positive as possible and see myself in these really incredible productions out there, and I’ll do everything in my power to be able to do that.”
And what about the question that seems to follow every former Corrie character… would she ever step back onto the cobbles? “Never say never is my approach,” she replies. “I love Candice and I love Coronation Street, so I’d never close myself to anything if they did want me back in the future, that’s the exciting thing about doing what I do. You just never know what might happen next. “Who knew way back when as a little girl going to drama classes at The Carol Godby Theatre Workshop I’d spend the next 30 years working because of them? “I’m under no illusion that it’s much tougher than it used to be out there, but I’m positive and have faith that I’ll achieve all I dream of in life, especially having Anthony, my family, and my friends by my side.”
