Laura Burns (also Kerry Shepard) is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Lesley Johnston between November 2000 and 2002.
Casting
Actress Lesley Johnston took part in the first "Hollyoaks: On the Pull" campaign, which was set up by Hollyoaks casting directors to find new young actors to appear in the show. She had no previous acting experience. Johnston discovered the casting call via a friend who was part of the same modelling agency as her. Johnston recalled that she and her friend only intended auditioning for fun. Johnston originally auditioned at Waterfront Hall in Belfast and was one of five thousand auditionees in attendance. Johnston drank too much alcohol the night before her audition and was hungover during the process. She met the show's casting director, Dorothy Andrew and was given a minute to describe herself. Andrew put Johnston through to the next stage of the audition by reading from scripts. Johnston waited the entire day and was informed she had been successful and was invited further auditions in Liverpool, where she was offered the role. The other three successful applicants chosen were Marcus Patric, Andrew Somerville and Elize du Toit. The show's executive producer Phil Redmond said that the decision to cast only four actors out of forty thousand auditionees showed how "scarce talent" was in the industry. Johnston had around three months in which to prepare for filming her first scenes as Laura. Johnston's casting was publicised in July 2000.
Character development
Writers included details of Laura's backstory in her scenes. It is revealed that Laura grew up in a children's home following the death of her mother. Laura moves to Hollyoaks village to study at the college. In her scenes, Laura is shown on-screen doing outlandish things such as stealing and having no guilty conscience afterwards. Laura also had psychotic tendencies, of which Johnston theorized: "I think she's been alone for a lot of her life and she's scared of that. I play it as if there's a mental disorder there because I had studied psychology." Johnston found it difficult to describe Laura because she enjoyed writers surprising her with new information about Laura's persona each time she received new scripts. In the book, Phil Redmond's Hollyoaks: The Official Companion, author Matthew Evans described Laura as "without a doubt one of the most elusive, enigmatic and odd characters ever seen in the show." Laura became known for her scheming and manipulative behaviour. Johnston was happy to portray such a personality and told Steven Moore from Sunday World that "I love being the cow of Hollyoaks, ut's great fun playing the baddie, I'm in stitches every week reading my lines."
Writers created a relationship storyline between Laura and Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy), who has recently split with Laura's best friend Mandy Richardson (Sarah Jayne Dunn). Luke discovers that Mandy is dating his own best friend, Ben Davies (Marcus Patric) and is hurt by their deception. Luke had been raped one year prior by Mark Gibbs (Colin Parry) and feels betrayed by Ben and Mandy, who helped him through the ordeal. Luke decides to move on and have fun with Laura and Lucy was happy that his character could have fun. Lucy did not believe Laura was the correct choice for Luke to get involved with because of her personality. He told Susan Riley from Soaplife that "the next few months should be interesting. Laura's got a mysterious background and I reckon Luke's relationship with her will bring some good twists."
Laura's most notable storyline was her obsession with her best friend, Mandy. The story included a sensationalised scene in which Laura kisses Mandy. A Hollyoaks publicist told a reporter from Sunday Life that "Laura becomes more and more obsessed with Mandy. The kiss only increased her fascination and future episodes should keep viewers glued to their seats."