Riley Costello
Riley Costello is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Rob Norbury. Riley was introduced on 20 July 2010 with the Costello family as part of a cast overhaul of the series. In December 2011, the serial's executive producer Emma Smithwick said that Riley would remain in Hollyoaks despite his family's departure. On 14 September 2012, it was announced Riley was to leave Hollyoaks and Riley was killed off in a shooting during the episode airing 3 October 2012.
Creation and casting
In 2010, auditions were held for the part of Riley, a young footballer and member of the Costello clan. Former Grange Hill and Hollyoaks: In the City actor Rob Norbury was cast in the role. The Costellos were introduced as the family of already-established character Jem Costello. The family consists of Carl Costello, a former premiership footballer with a history for cheating on his wife, Heidi, a former model, and their children, Riley, who is training to become a footballer to impress his father, Seth, who is desperate to step out from his older brother's shadow, and Jasmine, who is secretly suffering due to gender dysphoria. Speaking of the family's casting, Marquess said, "We can't wait for this huge new boost of energy exploding on screen. These exciting new characters join our fantastic core cast. Together they will ensure that 2010 will be a year to remember on Hollyoaks."Development
Riley has been described by Kim Tiddy, who portrays Heidi, as a "Jack-the-lad" type character. Another source calls Riley a "lothario". Norbury was questioned about his character's relationship with younger brother Seth during an interview on the official Hollyoaks website. He responded saying: "I think it's kind of like any brotherly relationship. As the older brother you've got to look out for them, but also they're there for you to have a little mess around with. I don't know which direction things will go, but at the moment a lot of the time when we're together, we don't seem that bothered about each other. But as brothers we get on, and that's kind of like most brothers isn't it. You don't want to know too much about them, you just want them there, to have a laugh with and to argue with." The relationship was further explored in the fourth series of spin-off Hollyoaks Later.In December 2011, the serial's executive producer Emma Smithwick said that Riley would be the only member of the Costello family remaining in the serial. Smithwick told Inside Soap that Riley's storyline with Mercedes had not been concluded. She confirmed that the storyline would return to the "fore" of the serial in 2012.
On 14 September, Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy confirmed Norbury had left Hollyoaks. Kilkelly stated that while the actor had filmed his final scenes as Riley, the exact details of his exit would be kept under wraps. The following month, Riley died on-screen. Norbury revealed that he had filmed his final scenes on 11 September. He explained "I knew I was leaving quite a while ago now, so then it was a case of waiting to see what my leaving story would be. We decided in early summer that I was going, and then we ended up having a chat in July or August time when they said they'd had an idea of Riley being killed." The actor thought killing his character off was "better than a lot of other exits that you can get" and he was pleased with how it played out.