Hollyoaks is celebrating its 25th Anniversary. Being such a long-running soap opera there has been many great and important storylines. Some highlighted important issues, many had big moral dilemmas, and others were fun soap fair. Considering the milestone Hollyoaks has reached it seems like a great time to look at some of the best storylines the soap has done.
Luke Morgan Being Raped
One of Hollyoaks’ most memorable early storylines was about male rape. Male rape was a subject that was rarely addressed on TV so Hollyoaks wanted to raise awareness.
In the story, Luke Morgan was a talented and aspiring footballer and a local heartthrob. However, Luke formed a rivalry with local bully Mark Gibbs and during a training session, Luke accidentally injured Mark. Mark got revenge first by bullying Luke even more and in the late-night special Hollyoaks: Breaking Boundaries Mark raped Luke in front of a group of men.
After the attack, Luke fell into a depression and tried to kill himself. Mark was eventually tried and convinced of rape and sentenced to serve eight years in prison.
Hollyoaks revisited the storyline in 2017 because Luke was still tormented by the event even after 17 years. Luke became an alcoholic and confront Mark who had settled down with a wife and two kids.
Lisa Hunter Self Harming
Like male rape, self-harming was an issue that was rarely addressed on TV and Hollyoaks wanted to raise awareness. Lisa Hunter was a troubled teen who was bullied at school and had home issues due to her older sister disappearing. Lisa turned to self-harm as a coping mechanism. Her self-harming was only discovered by her boyfriend. Lisa’s self-harming got so bad that she nearly died of blood poisoning.
Lisa’s self-harming was made worst due to her dad being a macho man, so wasn’t that understanding. One of his solutions was to remove all the doors in the house. A memorable small moment was one character asked her dad why Lisa cut herself, which highlighted people’s lack of understanding of the issue.
Even after Lisa stopped self-harming, she still suffered the ramifications. Lisa’s ex-boyfriend stalked her because he blamed her for failing his exams.
Hollyoaks did do another self-harming storyline involving Lily Drinkwell but this storyline was criticised because it turned self-harming into a group activity.
Becca and Justin’s Affair
One of the most famous affairs in Hollyoaks was the one between Becca Hayton and Justin Burton. Becca was a student-teacher at Hollyoaks High and one of her pupils was the troubled teen Justin. Becca tutors Justin and they got close when Justin was in a Youth Detention Facility. Becca and Justin slept together on Christmas Day in 2005 which impregnated Becca. Their affair got discovered by another student and it resulted in Becca’s husband attacked Justin at a birthday party.
Becca and Justin ended up moving in together and suffered financial hardship due to Becca losing her job. Their relationship didn’t last due to Becca realising how immature Justin was. Justin got revenge by lying to the police saying Becca slept with Justin was 15. The false accusation led to Becca’s imprisonment and being stabbed by her cellmate.
Date Rape
Sam Owen was an incredibly tragic character from Hollyoaks. Sam served a prison sentence for arson which resulted in a child’s death. It was a crime Sam didn’t commit. Sam enrolled at Hollyoaks Community College to study Law and wanted to right injustice. At the college Sam befriended Andy Holt, a jack-the-lad type character. However, Andy was a date rapist, and this was shown in the special Crossing the Line when he raped Dannii Carbone. Andy also drugged a woman that Sam was interested in and Sam didn’t realise she was drugged when they slept together.
Andy was able to convince Sam that drugging women was simply a short cut and Sam too became a date rapist. Sam only stopped when Andy drugged the Burton twins and Sam didn’t want to rape a girl he was interested in.
The story continued with a series of late-night specials where Andy tries to get revenge on Sam by kidnapping his sister and nearly raping her in front of the Owen brothers. Sam was tricked into confessing for his crimes by Sophie Burton. Sam’s final act was to escape from prison and blow up The Dog in The Pond pub, leading to five deaths, including his own.
McDean
One of the most famous relationships in Hollyoaks was the one between Craig Dean and John Paul McQueen. Craig befriends John Paul after John Paul defended Craig from Sonny Valentine. What Craig didn’t realise was John Paul fancied him and Craig went out with Sarah Barnes, the most popular girl in their year. The pair started a relationship when they kissed during Craig and Sarah’s engagement party.
The relationship was praised by the LGBT community and was called “McDean” by fans. Stonewall awarded Hollyoaks the Broadcast of the Year in 2007 for its depiction of a gay affair and Digital Spy gave Hollyoaks the Storyline of the Year in 2008. The relationship was a major step for gay representation on daytime TV in the UK. Hollyoaks avoided showing the characters to be gay stereotype: John Paul was interested in football and was an aspiring DJ whilst Craig was more academically inclined.
Unfortunately, Hollyoaks kept turning characters gay as a shock twist. This happened to Sarah, Ste Hay, Brendan Brady, and Peri Lomax. This had led to less of an impact and made the show seem ridiculous.
Hannah Ashworth’s Eating Disorder
Hannah Ashworth was Emma Rigby’s first long-running role on TV and her Eating Disorder storyline made the character. Hannah was a typical teenager when she appeared on the show: she made friends with the other teens, she got into fights with her younger brother, and got a boyfriend. However, Hannah’s first boyfriend was John Paul, and the pair lost their virginity to each other. It was quite a blow for Hannah to find out her boyfriend was gay.
It was revealed that Hannah was bulimic, and her eating disorder got worst when she befriended Melissa Hurst. Melissa was a model and she convinced Hannah that anorexia was a lifestyle choice, not an eating disorder. Even after Melissa’s death due to her anorexia Hannah continued to suffer from her illness to the point her family had to section her.
The storyline was praised for the harsh depiction of eating orders and Melissa’s death was the first on-screen death of a sufferer of an eating disorder on British TV. Charities praised the storyline and Rigby earn the Best Actress Award at the 2008 British Soap Awards.
Sadly the storyline went off the rails when Hannah relapse and nearly died. Despite nearly dying Hannah’s family thought it was a good idea to let her go travelling around South-East Asia.
Anita Roy Attempts Skin Bleaching
In 2019 Coronation Street aired a storyline about Asha Alahan who blenched her skin which highlighted a real issue. However, this wasn’t the first time a soap did a story about skin bleaching. In 2008 Anita Roy attempted to bleach her skin after suffering from racist bullying. There was an emotionally powerful scene when a distressed Anita prepares to put the bleach on her legs. The skin bleaching was only discovered when Theresa McQueen saw the scaring on Anita’s legs.
Silas the Serial Killer
For a small village, Hollyoaks has a high murder rate and many serial killers have plagued the place. One of the most memorable was Silas Blissett. Silas was the father of Heidi Costello and the grandfather of the Costello kids. His MO was to kill women with loose morals. His first victim was India Longford when she started online dating and his other victim was Rae Wilson.
Silas entered into feuds with India’s sister Texas, and Lynsey Nolan, a local nurse. Silas forced Lynsey into a sadistic game of cat and mouse and forced the nurse to dress up as Catwoman on Halloween 2011 in a story that Hollyoaks intended to kill off a female character. The promoted victims were Lynsey, Texas, Theresa McQueen, and Amy Barnes. The twist was Silas killed his own daughter thinking she was Lynsey. Silas also held a heavily pregnant Mercedes McQueen captive with the intent to kill her when she gave birth at the same time as his murders.
Silas returned in 2016 when Trevor Royale was accused of being the Purple Glove Killer. When Silas realised the killer was Lindsay Butterworth he killed her instead.
Silas was a different type of serial killer on media because he was refined, intelligent, and mild-mannered. It was helped that the role was played by Jeff Rawle who has had a long career in acting – his previous roles including George Dent in Drop the Dead Donkey, the father of the main characters in the family sitcom Microsoap and was Amos Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Silas is still on the run so Hollyoaks can still bring him back if they want.
Esther Bloom’s Suicide Attempt
Suicide has been explored in a number of soaps and Esther Bloom’s suicide attempt was one of the hard-hitting. Esther was a teenager who was bullied relentlessly by Maddie Morrison. Maddie was able to gather a clique to help her, including Ruby Button, a girl who lived with Esther. When Maddie died Esther got the blame, leading to the bullying get worst and even her family thought she was a lost cause.
This all led to a special episode where Esther tried to take her own life. In the episode, Esther got rid of all her processions and acted normally during the school day. At night Esther stole some pills and a bottle of vodka but the attempt failed. Esther woke up and did a blood-curdling scream when she realised she didn’t die.
What made this story so good was it felt so real because it showed a person just wanting to disappear. It showed the potential warning signs that people should look out for.
Peri’s Homelessness
The most recent storyline on this list was Peri’s homelessness. Peri Lomax had turned into a teenage tearaway and by the end of 2017, she was ostracised by her friends and family. She faked a pregnancy and lied about her aunt waking up from a coma. This led to Peri getting kicked out by her mother and she ended up living on the streets of Liverpool in the middle of winter. On the streets, Peri befriended two other homeless youngsters who taught her how to survive on the streets.
This episode was a unique one because it showed the whole time Peri was homeless. In the episode, she went to a hostel, nearly got propositioned by an older man, and she had to act as a scavenger to survive. The episode highlighted that trials of homelessness: at best the homeless were ignore, at worst were abused by members of the public. It was a rude awakening for Peri who came from a middle-class background.
Due to the passage of time, the episode was able to show how Peri changed during her weeks of homelessness. She went from the pretty girl from Chester to a dirt-covered young woman. The episode was more stylish because of the time jumps.
