5 minutes with... Matt Littler and Darren Jeffries

Matt Littler and Darren Jeffries

Matt Littler and Darren Jeffries found fame on Hollyoaks with long-term roles as Max Cunningham and Sam 'OB' O'Brien respectively.

After a decade on the Channel 4 soap, they started presenting work, including their own radio show on Preston-based Rock FM and TV shows on 4Music.

Their new series Rivals, which sees them competing in minority sports, is on Saturdays on Channel 4.

DARREN, MATT TELLS A FEW PEOPLE IN THE SERIES REFER TO YOU AS YOUR HOLLYOAKS CHARACTER OB. DOES IT BOTHER YOU?

Darren: Not at all! I do a few double-takes, like when trial-bike world champion Dougie Lampkin called me OB. I was just surprised he called me it because I could never imagine him sitting down to watch Hollyoaks.

THE SERIES HAS SEEN YOU DOING SOME REALLY EXTREME THINGS.

Darren: It's the most extreme thing I've ever done in my life. I mean, this is coming from a poncey actor, so it's all relative, but it was very extreme. As soon as we were asked though, it was impossible to turn down. If someone offers you five trips abroad to some beautiful places to take part in sports you'd never contemplate doing, ever, you're not going to say no.

Matt: All the things were new to me: never ridden a bike before, never dived from that height, nothing. It was such an amazing opportunity.

WHICH WAS THE HARDEST OR THE ONE YOU WERE MOST SCARED OF?

Darren: We've done motocross, free-running, cliff-diving, flugtag and BMX stunts as well. I think free-running was really hard, but they were all difficult in their own ways.

WHAT'S FLUGTAG?

Darren: They had it in London last year, it's where you make a flying machine, take it to the end of a really high pier and then jump off into some water, hoping you can fly. You're judged on performance more than anything. We're seeing that one as our holiday. It's nowhere near as intense as the others.

WHO'S THE MORE COMPETITIVE OF THE PAIR OF YOU?

Darren: I'd say Matt was slightly more competitive than me. Neither of us are that competitive. That's what the show is about, and we've both taken the training really seriously, but we're both in it together, so we're just glad to be alive at the end of it.

MATT, YOU BROKE YOUR WRIST. HOW IS IT NOW?

Matt: It's much better thanks. I went to some high-tech trauma clinic, so there were lights whizzing around it and lots of things, so it mended well. I broke a bone called the scaphoid, which only gets blood from one end, so if you snap it, you can have life-long injuries, but thankfully I'm OK. The other things I broke were the radius and ulna too, so it was a bad break. It didn't really hurt when I did it, but the guys at the motocross centre where I did it picked up on it straight away, and knew what I'd done before I did. They were so on the ball.

WERE YOU ANNOYED BY THAT, DARREN?

Darren: Not at all, I just was really worried, because we'd started the show and it was all about us going head-to-head, but then he did that and I didn't think we'd be able to compete if it was just me. We were both so excited, so for Matt to step down it was disappointing.

ARE THERE ANY EVENTS YOU'D CONTINUE NOW YOU'VE DONE THE SERIES?

Darren: I'd love to continue motorbiking. Before we did Romaniacs, the event we competed in, I'd never ridden a bike in my life, but then it was amazing and it'd be silly to let what we learned slide. When it's all done, we're going to treat ourselves to a bike each and carry on.

Matt: One of the guys who helped train us on the motorbikes is going to take us out with his mates around the Yorkshire moors for a day's riding, which I can't wait to do. That'll be amazing.

WHEN DID YOU THINK YOU MIGHT START PRESENTING?

Darren: We left with a view to continuing our acting careers, but then we got some offers for presenting as a duo. We were working together so much on Hollyoaks, so it was great to continue that. We've been so lucky.

Matt: We have been so lucky. In my wildest dreams I didn't think we'd have done this well in a year since leaving Hollyoaks. I'm so grateful to everyone that's given us these chances, and we seem to have managed not to mess it up yet.

PEOPLE HAVE COMPARED YOU TO ANT AND DEC, WITH THE BACK STORY BEING SIMILAR. HOW DOES THAT FEEL?

Darren: It's amazing to get that comparison, they're TV legends, but we're not thinking too much about the future, and Rivals has been such an intense show that it's taken over our lives. We just want to carry on working, and to leave a show like Hollyoaks and go into other work has just been amazing.

WILL YOU BE KNOWN AS MAX AND OB FOREVER?

Matt: Why not? I'd never turn my back on Hollyoaks or say a bad word about it. I'd never be embarrassed by it, it's an amazing show.

Season Star Abi Savours New Friendships
Monday 23rd November 2009
All the latest TV gossip.

School of Saatchi
(BBC Two, 9pm)

More great shows on TV tonight.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(Sky Movies Classics, 7.20pm)
Spend a night in with our pick of tonight's top films.

Crazy about Coronation Street? Nutty about Neighbours? Get the lowdown in Soap heaven.