Eva Strong

Tania Evette 'Eva' Strong is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Sheree Murphy. She made her first on-screen appearance on 23 April 2010.

Character creation and casting

In February 2010, The Sun reported that former Emmerdale actress Murphy had been cast in the role of Eva, the long-lost biological mother of Anita Roy (Saira Choudhry). Of her casting, a Hollyoaks source said: "Bosses have been trying to sign her up for a while now - but she's always put her family first. But after years out of acting, she wants to give it another go. Sheree has started filming scenes and was very nervous being on set again, but she's a professional and has taken to Hollyoaks like a duck to water. She's loving it - and everyone loves having her on the team." Murphy was the first major signing of series producer Paul Marquess, who told entertainment website Digital Spy that Murphy was not cast because of her high-profile. He stated, "Casting Sheree Murphy, it was day one and they said: 'We have to cast this today'. They showed me a DVD of six perfectly good actresses, one of whom was Sheree Murphy who I recognised and said, 'Let's have her'. It's as simple as that - I've watched Emmerdale and I know what Sheree can do."