Former Hollyoaks actor Jimmy Essex has revealed he is engaged to his boyfriend of six years.

The soap star, who played Adam Donovan in the Channel 4 show, was proposed to during a holiday in Sri Lanka by his musician partner Charles.

Essex, 30, shared a picture to Instagram showing him and his boyfriend kissing while he held a diamond ring up to the camera.

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So … this happened. 💍

A post shared by jimmy_essex (@jimmy_essex) on

The post was captioned: “So … this happened.” Essex added a diamond ring emoji.

Earlier, Charles shared a series of pictures to Instagram showing the couple, both dressed in white, embracing.

Alongside the images, he wrote: “6  years and counting… He said yes.” Essex’s Hollyoaks co-star Tamara Wall commented on his post: “Best thing ever!!!!!!!”

Blue singer and former Hollyoaks star Duncan James wrote: “Awwwww massive congrats guys.”

Essex’s character was killed off last year.