The beloved character is leaving the Channel 4 soap for the third time since his debut 20 years ago
19:00, 15 Jan 2026
Hollyoaks' John Paul star has told Coronation Street that his ‘schedule is clear’ as he made an admission about his coming exit on the Channel 4 soap.
Actor James Sutton began playing John Paul McQueen back in 2006. The actor’s early storylines saw his character exploring his sexuality, eventually having a romance with his best friend Craig Dean.
Once John Paul and Craig got their happily ever after in 2008, James soon appeared on ITV soap Emmerdale in the role of Ryan Lamb. The mechanic left the Dales in 2011 in pursuit of a new start after his mum Faye Lamb moved to America.
Hollyoaks fans were delighted that this meant John Paul was back on the programme in 2012. Things were tough for John Paul once he returned, with the beloved character assaulted by a male student, having his drink spiked and being involved in a train crash.
Leaving once again in 2017, James returned as John Paul for a third stint in 2020. Sadly, the past few years saw him in a domestic abuse storyline with George Kiss, struggling with alcoholism and even becoming engaged to serial killer Jez Blake last year.
James informed fans back in September that he was leaving Holloaks for a third time. He said in an Instagram post: "I have made some huge career decisions over the past few months.
"The sort of decisions that ordinarily would have terrified me the kind of decisions that when you tell your friends and family what your planning they look at you like your completely f**k*g insane."
On Thursday morning (January 15), James appeared on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine Show, where he spoke to stand-in presenter Susan Calman about his decision to leave.
“It's like any job in any industry if you're there for a long enough time, the people that you work with and the people that you see every day that you have banter with and a laugh with, you know, they're the people ... that's that's the real thing I'm going to miss.
"I felt like I kind of done everything that I could do with the character. I've had a lot of heavy lifting over the years. They just really like making me cry, I think. My character's been through a lot of really quite difficult things,” he said.
James added: "I've done a male rape storyline. I've done a domestic abuse storyline, alcoholism, various other things that, you know, really hard-hitting stuff that kind of requires a lot from you as a, as a performer.
"And I just felt like we kind of exhausted everything that we could do with the character and kind of ran out of steam. And I thought, better to leave now than then, just to kind of fade into the background."
Looking ahead to the future, James isn’t ruling out making a stunning appearance on rival soap Coronation Street. “Coronation Street, I'm available. My schedule is clear,” he teased.
If he was to do so, this would be the four major UK soaps he’s been a part of, having also appeared in an episode of the BBC medical drama Holby City back in 2012.