Cork actor Stephen (31) has returned to RTÉ screens after an absence of two years.

Zak initially absconded to England and then later Spain having being involved with James Rafferty in the kidnapping of Carol Foley (Aisling O’Neill).

He was previously imprisoned in the soap for drug dealing after being embroiled in a gang led by slain gangster Richie Lennon.

“The initial storyline where Zak got dragged into drug dealing, it was against his own will,” explains Stephen.

“When I meet young people around, who watch the show, they connect with the fact that it’s very easy that a young person might get roped into and they feel like they have nowhere to go.

“It kind of goes back to that connection that they remember that it wasn’t his choice to go into this and then he got into it and he co

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