It may sometimes feel like the underdog of the serial drama world but for 30 years now, Hollyoaks has packed many a punch where other soaps wouldn’t dare.
The daring drama reaches its three decade anniversary this week, celebrating it in a wave of nostalgia, spectacle and shocking twists that it has become synonymous with.
But amid the sexy and scandalous affairs, the stunt packed disaster set pieces and the ultra camp scenes which have included serial killers dying by knitting needles and electrified chess boards (yes, honestly), Hollyoaks’ real power lies in changing lives and offering a consistent and bold representation where few other TV programmes, particularly in such tricky pre-watershed slots, refuse to tread.
Quickly shedding a pesky and unwarranted reputation for being a frothy teen romp, Hollyoaks grabbed the torch left by the gritty deceased trend setter Brookside, and took it upon itself to be first to tackle human interest stories from LGBTQ+ representation and gender identity through to harrowing topics including far right grooming, male rape and sibling sex abuse.
When you think Hollyoaks, you think of two things – a slightly barmy but lovable soap opera that pulls off audacious twists that you wouldn’t quite get away with in Corrie, and a deeply serious show that takes its responsibility to a young audience seriously and throws everything into raising awareness, highlighting injustices and fearlessly delving deep into difficult areas.
It’s the latter that will keep the show relevant and on air, and that will be its ongoing legacy. As Hollyoaks enjoys a well earned knees up to celebrate 30 years – no mean feat for any programme in the UK – we take a look at the monumental storylines that put it on the map and offer a preview on what you can expect in the explosive special episodes.
LGBTQ+ representation
Hollyoaks is renowned for having arguably the most diverse cast of characters, representing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and non-binary communities.
Some of the show’s most popular relationships have been same sex, with John Paul and Craig Dean setting the viewing public alight and being one of the first examples of how massive a soap fandom can grow.
The following was like something rarely seen before, and set the tone for hugely popular soap TV couples to come such as Emmerdale’s Robert and Aaron and Coronation Street’s Carla and Lisa.
Soon after the law changed in 2014, John Paul and Ste became the first gay soap couple to be legally married.
The couple wed in a church and it had all of the elements of a soap wedding with chaos following.
Gender identity
The show won acclaim for its representation of teeanger Ro’s gender identity and coming out as trans, followed by a bullying ordeal that led to a pivotal mental health episode where he contemplated taking his own life before contacting a trans youth helpline.
When Diane found herself out of her depth and Tony refused to take him seriously, Ro felt isolated and alone, with Kitty proving to be the friend he needed.
The reactions to Ro’s journey from her parents are common and sad scenes showed the youngster being overwhelmed and struggling with how to deal with this moving forwards.
The age of Ro is a key factor in the story and its originality, with no other soap exploring transgender journeys with a child, at least on screen.
Our columnist Ugla Stefanía Kristjönudóttir Jónsdóttir has written about the representation this offers the trans community, commending Hollyoaks for doing the storyline and the recent outcome showed some hope at last for Ro, who built some much needed support networks and friendships.
The role will soon be taken over by real-life trans actor Leo Cole , age 17, as Ro moves into adulthood, confirming Hollyoaks’ commitment to sticking with the character as he grows up.
Ro isn’t the first Hollyoaks character to explore their gender identity. Way back in 2010, Jason Costello was central to soap’s first ever gender dysmorphia storyline.
When the character was announced, two pictures were released showing actress Victoria Atkin dressed as ‘Jasmine’ and true, male self, Jason.
And, extremely notably, Hollyoaks was the first soap to cast a trans actress in a long-term trans female role, with Annie Wallace playing fan favourite Sally St Claire for many years, one of the show’s most grounded and likeable characters.
Sibling Sex Abuse
One of Hollyoaks’ most recent hard-hitters has been the sibling sex abuse storyline that saw Frankie (Isabelle Smith) repeatedly abused by her brother JJ (Ryan Mulvey), in a storyline that triggered a lot of discussion and awareness.
With shocking stats showing that this is an issue that is more common than most people realise, Hollyoaks was the first soap to tackle it and it led to huge critical acclaim and waves of awards, not least of all for stand-out actress Isabelle, who has proven to be one of the small screen’s biggest rising stars.
The show didn’t shy away from the more harrowing aspects of it, while also allowing plenty of focus on the wider family implications and how parents can possibly navigate such a horrifying realisation.
Far right extremism
A person who has been through a lot and has his fair share of rejection, vulnerable Ste was identified as a perfect target by a far-right group, who set about recruiting him.
It would be a story that would later be explored with Coronation Street’s Max and EastEnders’ Aaron, but this arc from Hollyoaks was the first time a mainstream soap had delved into it.
The fact that it was a long-term and very prominent character added to the depth of the journey viewers were taken on over the course of more than a year.
It effectively showed the subtle beginnings of grooming, with planting of seeds that Ste could initially relate to.
As time went on, their vile views spilled into Ste and he began to take on the attitudes, even lashing out at his neighbours, the Maalik family.
Things later became violent when an explosion from a package led Ste to realise how far things had gone but the story would then look at how Ste remained trapped by the evil thugs and, later still, the long journey to being accepted back into the community.
The storyline was so impactful that a former extremist, 16, told Metro that it had changed his life and helped him fight his way out of the murky world.
Anorexia death
Eating disorders were seldom touched upon in TV drama when Hannah’s storyline, which won huge attention and acclaim including a Best Actress award for Emma Rigby, began in the mid-2000s.
Treating the story with respect, Hannah would be shown struggling with the illness for several years, avoiding the trope that things like this go away in months.
Initially Hannah suffered with bulimia, regularly purging, but after meeting model Melissa, this turned into anorexia which nearly killed Hannah.
In a soap first, a character died from the condition, with Melissa eventually passing away as a consequence of the damage done to her body.
Hollyoaks has since looked at eating disorders again, in the characters of Cleo and Imran.
Self harm’s tragic end
In a very memorable and heartbreaking story, struggling student Lily began to self-harm as an attempt at a coping mechanism.
It was triggered after she had body issues when she was scarred and further exacerbated when she was cheated on.
Bullying then followed and humiliating pictures of her were sent round school, leaving her devastated.
She would then get things under control but suffered a relapse a year later in the fallout from her affair with Romeo.
Eventually spending time in a mental health hospital, Lily came home, seemingly stopping her cutting.
But as she pledged to start a new life with Romeo, her dreams were dashed tragically when sepsis from a recent wound killed her.
It would highlight the very real dangers of self harm and was the first time a story like this ended in soap with a character losing their life.
But the topic itself was explored much earlier in the show’s tenure, with Lisa Hunter being seen trying to cope using it as an outlet all the way back in 2001.
Her ordeal was also triggered by bullying.
Spiking causes victim to die
In some of the show’s earliest ever episodes, Hollyoaks was ahead of its time even then, showing a victim of spiking die.
Inspired by the real life tragic death of student Leah Betts, who died after taking an ecstasy tablet on her 18th birthday, character Natasha’s story saw her spiked in the pub.
Suffering a terrible fate, Hollyoaks’ plot ran in 1995 and shone a light onto the horrific consequences of the vile act.
Male rape and footballer abuse
It’s one of soap’s most talked about episodes and storylines of all time and it still remains at the forefront of viewers’ minds to this day.
Soaps have covered rape before and continue to look at the topic, including more recently highlighting marital rape and attacking the blurred lines of consent while drinking, hitting home that rape is rape.
But male sexual assault had not been touched upon and, in an episode aired during later hours, Hollyoaks used the timeslot to do the harrowing attack on Luke justice in 2000.
Gary Lucy won so much acclaim for his portrayal and his ordeal has been revisited a number of times, including when he came face to face with his attacker decades later.
Male rape would be explored later on in the show when John Paul was attacked buy his teacher.
And Luke’s own son was groomed and abused by his football coach in another groundbreaking soap first.
The topic of abuse in football and sport by people in a position of trust was unexplored territory in the genre.
Ollie’s long-running ordeal weaved in Luke’s own ordeal from years gone by and he eventually stood up to Buster, who it emerged had done this several times before.
What’s coming up in the big anniversary week
Tony’s big day!
It’s set to be the wedding of the year as the Hutchinsons gather for Tony and Diane’s big day but secrets and lies are set to explode in a dramatic fashion.
With Diane left reeling from revelations about what her hubby-to-be is hiding, an explosive confrontation culminates in a life-changing series of events.
Jez and Clare’s last stand
The net will close in on serial killer Jez, while Clare will also exact the final stage of her revenge. With Jez determined to escape, his luck may be set to run out but he won’t be going down alone, with it likely that he will claim at least one more victim.
Meanwhile, we will see Clare take some of her more drastic action yet. With the soap promising an explosive killer stunt, not everyone is going to survive…
Back to Brookie!
Without Brookside, we wouldn’t have Hollyoaks and so it seems very proper to give more than a nod to the mother show itself, with a special episode seeing residents cross over with some of our old favourites on the Close.
With cameos including huge names like Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnstone, we will have a chance to revisit some of the characters we’ve missed for years as well as exploring an intriguing new storyline that will cross back over into the main show.
Not everything is as it seems…
Danger in Hollyoaks Later
Hollyoaks Later is making a comeback with a one hour special after hours edition of the soap, carrying on from the trigger point set off in the Brookside crossover.
With returns from Warren Fox and Theresea McQueen, and characters like Frankie Dean facing crossroads after a turbulent year, danger rises at a big party with the lives of several residents set to change forever.
It will be the starting point of a huge and topical storyline that will dominate Hollyoaks moving into 2026.
