Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks is a British soap opera set in and around the fictional Chester suburb of the same name and filmed mainly in nearby Liverpool. The soap is centred around a college of higher education called Hollyoaks Community College. The characters and main target audience are generally in their late teens or early twenties. The show currently broadcasts at 6:30pm every weekday with an omnibus edition on Sundays on Channel 4. Hollyoaks is known for launching the careers of Will Mellor, Gary Lucy, Jeremy Edwards and James Redmond.

Current characters

Taylor-Burton Family:

• Liz Burton (married to Richard Taylor) - Andree Bernard

Liz is the archetypal overwrought mother of teenagers and spends her life trying to maintain the peace between her and Richard's children. She often plays the role of mediator in the almost constant disputes and attempts to discipline the children which originally proved ineffective but recently began to work.

• Justin Burton - Chris Fountain

A troubled teen, Justin began misbehaving and smoking cannabis after his father's death, constantly hurting his family and hiding behind Liz who felt obliged to support him; however, after pushing step-sister Darlene through a plate glass window, Liz sent Justin off to boot camp since when he has calmed considerably and recently reconciled with Darlene and Ali, becoming fast friends with his step-siblings.

• Melanie Burton - Cassie Powney

Mel is quiet and introverted and often gets annoyed by her siblings' behaviour and lack of consideration for her needs.

• Sophie Burton - Connie Powney

Mel's opposite, Sophie is outgoing and speaks her mind, she and Mel manage to get along despite irritating each other a lot of the time and she shares her twin's ire at the lack of respect they get from the rest of the family, Liz often tries to make up with grand gestures for not paying enough attention to her daughters due to managing the rest of the family.

• Richard Taylor (married to Liz Burton) - Richard Calkin
• Ali Taylor - Luti Fagbenle
• Darlene Taylor - Sarah Lawrence

Dean Family:

• Frankie Dean - Helen Pearson

Impulsive and slightly flaky, Frankie was hit hard by the departure of her husband Johnno who left her to marry his pregnant 19 year old girlfriend. Frankie is immensely proud of her children and goes out of her way to protect them, often by taking all of the problems she encounters upon herself which causes serious problems for the whole family in the long run such as having them evicted from their home because she couldnt pay the rent and kept it a secret.

• Craig Dean - Guy Burnet

Fiercely protective of his family and friends since he was left devastated by the knowledge that his father was having an affair, Craig is intelligent and crafty and often willing to turn his hand to scams and manipulation to get his way.

• Jake Dean - Kevin Sacre

Usually hard working, caring and honest, Jake has a habit of acting without thinking, notably in having an affair with Lisa whilst he was going out with Becca and jeopardising their relationship.

• Steph Dean - Carly Stenson

Flighty and extremely extrovert, Steph thinks very highly of herself and her own abilities. She tends to consider herself better than her peers and sometimes comes across as selfish though she does try to help with other people's problems this usually leads to her simply annoying those who she talks to as she will typically lecture them in a superior manner or bully them into doing something that she wants to do.

Hunter Family:

• Les Hunter - John Graham Davies

Reformed alcoholic, Les is strong willed and old fashioned and he still maintains strong ideas of family unity and is willing to fight in order to defend the honour of his daughters, recently coming to blows with Jake over his affair with, and dumping of, Lisa. After family strife, alcoholism and separation from his wife, Les now wishes to keep what is left of his family together do his best to be a positive part of their lives and is currently after Ben Davies despite his insistence that he is too old for her.

• Sally Hunter - Katherine Dow-Blyton

Caring and wilful, Sally is convinced that everything can be sorted out by negotiation and is usually reserved and considers actions carefully before going through with them, though she allows her children to sway her into impulsiveness on occasions such as her pursuit of Les in order to save their marriage.

• Ellie Mills - Sarah Baxendale

Recently departed due to the ill treatment she received at the hands of Lee and Lisa because of the lies she told to protect her husband.

• Lee Hunter - Alex Carter

Mischievous and enthusiastic about the student lifestyle, Lee is often self-centred but caring when he needs to be and he shares Les' united family unit ideal. Lee longs to be loved and hatches a range of schemes to win the adoration of his fellow students including paying Zara to impersonate Kylie Minogue

• Lisa Hunter - Gemma Atkinson

Like her parents Lisa is strong willed and knows her own mind, she is aloof towards her family most of the time but deep down she cares for them. Her independent nature has led to conflict with Les and Sally in the past and resulted in her moving between her home and the halls of residence on repeated occasions.

• Bombhead - Lee Otway

Though not actually a part of the Hunter family, David "Bombhead" Burke, Lee's best friend currently lives with them after he reacted badly to the death of his mother. When she died, Bombhead reacted with denial and left her body in the house for months, offering her food and drink and refusing to acknowledge that she was gone. Despite having some psychological problems, Bombhead functions well with the help of his friends and displays an extremely caring and empathetic nature which has helped the Hunters deal with the loss of Dan as they helped him come to terms with losing his mother.

Osborne Family:

• Jack Osborne - Jimmy McKenna

The proprietor of The Dog In The Pond public house, twice married Jack is typically a no-nonsense bloke who often clashes with his son Darren over his ill thought out plans and impulsive behavious, currently he also provides a home for the Deans after their eviction for not paying the rent.

• Darren Osborne - Ashley Taylor Dawson

Very impulsive and not blessed with a lot of forethought, Darren has a tendency to make enemies due to his headstrong nature and his arrogance. Darren also feels constantly hard done by and seeks to prove himself through get rich quick schemes and forcibly assering his independence in order to try and win Jack's approval.

Owen Family:

• Carrie Owen - Jac Croft

Warm and caring, Carrie feels deeply for her children and will go to great lengths to protect them even though her interfering can earn her little gratitude at times. Carrie is intelligent and will usually act as thoug she is naive or unaware of what is going on in her children's lives whilst she is really picking up more than she lets on, only becoming involved when she feels it is absolutely necessary and tending to let her views go unnoticed much of the time.

• Rob Owen

Carrie's estranged huband, recently returned after finding out about Rus' cancer. Originally ostracised from the family because he refused to believe Sam's innocence when he was imprisoned, Rob returned after Russ warned him that he could be at risk from cancer and after Nicole begged him to stay. Rob's return almost split the family again as Sam refused to accept him at first but was forced to change his mind after Rob rescued him on a climbing trip when Sam was unable to scale the rock face on his own.

• Sam Owen - Louis Tamone

Not the most empathetic person, Sam is suspicious and sees persecution all around him where there is none. He feels let down by Rob not believing in him and tries to lead a clean-cut lifestyle because he feels that he has something to prove. Despite being a bit self centred, Sam was a major help to Russ in getting over his cancer though he almost split the family up by threatening to walk out when his father returned.

• Nicole Owen - Ciara Janson

Chronically insecure, Nicole is easily led but still capable of sticking up for herself and her freinds, she is also perceptive and intelligent like her mother. Almost went through with breast enlargement because of her insecureties.

• Russell Owen - Stuart Manning

Russ is easy-going and very at home with himself and also exhibits a very mature nature when necessary, he is a popular ladies man and unafraid to make his views heard. Russ recently suffered from testciular cancer and had one testicle removed as a result which left him depressed for a while during which his brother, Sam, supported him.

Hutchinson/Cunningham Family:

• Mandy Hutchinson (married to Tony and step-sister of Max) - Sarah Dunn
• Tony Hutchinson (married to Mandy) - Nick Pickard
• Max Cunningham (step-brother of Mandy) - Matt Littler
• Tom Cunningham (half-brother of Mandy and Max) - Ellis Hollins

Others:

• Becca Hayton - Ali Bastian
• Ben Davies - Marcus Patric
• Cameron Clark - Ben Gerrard
• Dannii Carbone - Christina Baily
• Joe Spencer - Matt Milburn
• Sam O'Brien (OB) - Darren Jeffries
• Zara Morgan - Kelly Greenwood
• Jeremy Peterson - Simon Cole
• Louise - Roxanne McKee

Recently deceased

• Dan Hunter - Andy McNair (December 2004)

External links

• Official website