Calvin Valentine

Calvin Valentine is a fictional character from the long-running Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Ricky Whittle. He arrived in July 2006 as a police officer with his mother and younger siblings and made his final appearance on 21 May 2010 after he was murdered by Theresa McQueen. Whittle was credited for a flashback episode on 1 December 2010. Calvin appeared again as a ghost in February 2011.

Casting

In May 2006, it was announced former Dream Team actor Ricky Whittle would arrive in Hollyoaks as "mysterious" Calvin Valentine. Along with Whittle's casting, it was announced his former Dream Team co-star Jamie Lomas would take on the part of "bad boy" Warren Fox. 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!"

In 2009, it was announced that Whittle had decided to leave the series after he quit to pursue other projects. It was then announced that the character would be killed off. Speaking of how he reached the decision to leave, Whittle stated: "To be honest I was always looking to leave next year. It'll be four years next year when I eventually leave. Everyone has ambition. I could stay on this show for the rest of my life because I love it up here - it's a wicked little family and we're all really close. However, I don't want to spend all that time here for a big movie director or producer to come across to England when I'm in my 30s and say, 'If you'd come over when you were in your 20s, you'd've made it really big'. I'd rather go over to the States, go do the movie thing, the drama thing, or even fail - I'd rather go over and fail and have them say, 'You're not good enough, your accent's not right or your look's not right' - at least then I'd know and I'd have it out of my head. I always believe you regret the things you don't do. I don't want what-ifs hanging over me."