Newt (Hollyoaks)

Hollyoaks Character
Barry 'Newt' Newton
Played by	Nico Mirallegro
Duration	2007-
Date of Birth	October 25 1992
Marital Status	Single
Occupation	High School Student

Barry "Newt" Newton (born October 25 1992) is a fictional character on the long-running British channel 4 television soap opera Hollyoaks. He is portrayed by actor Nico Mirallegro and first appeared in Hollyoaks on 22 October 2007.

Creation and development

Newt has been noted as the first "emo" character for Hollyoaks and has been shown to follow certain emo characteristics, such as a reluctance to communicate with those around him. Producer Bryan Kirkwood stated: "He's a little belter who after a couple of years in the background will hopefully prove to be a really big character."

Character profile

Newt arrived in Hollyoaks as the second foster child of Jack and Frankie Osborne. The character had been in foster care since the age of three due to his mother's heroin addiction and his father's disappearance. Despite his dark demeanour, Newt was an intelligent and articulate youngster and, as a result of his fostering history, was able to psychoanalyse everyone he comes into contact with. He also secretly hoped his mother would clean up her act and track him down.

Darren stole Frankie's rings and sold them to pay off his debts. He put a bracelet he also stole in Newt's bag to frame him when Frankie started looking for them. He then 'found' it and let everyone believe Newt stole them. Jack gave Newt an option: confess or go back into care. Newt became very angry that no one believed him just because he was 'a kid in care'. Believing Jack framed him, he angrily chose to go back into care. A few weeks later, he returned when Darren was revealed as the culprit.

After Jake Dean became jealous of the time Nancy Hayton spent helping Newt with his dyslexia, he made an anonymous phone call to the Police - accusing Nancy of having a sexually inappropriate relationship with Newt. Newt was upset at being questioned, but defended Nancy.

Shortly after arriving, Newt bonded with Lauren Valentine, who shared a similarly dark outlook on life. They played a practical joke in The Dog (the local public house), pretending to be the ghost of Sam Owen. However, performed in front of Russ Owen it didn't go down well, resulting in Russ losing his temper and demanding Newt never mention Sam's name again. Several months later, they again tormented Russ after he put Lauren in detention. They were also accused of 'kidnapping' Tom. Tom forgot to tell O.B. and Summer that he was going to return the sketchbook which Newt had left behind at MOBS. He stayed with Newt and Lauren all afternoon and they gave him an emo style. Frankie, along with Lauren's mother Valerie, forbade them from seeing each other.

On Wednesday 20 February 2008 The Dog was raided by two men named Anthony and Carl who held Louise, Jack and Frankie hostage at gunpoint, and demanded cash. Newt managed to hide and phone the police, but when the men discovered him he was so scared he wet himself, after Newt was discovered the men threatened Newt, and Frankie stood up for him. It was also revealed while the hostages sat together in fear that Newt used to live in fear of his mum's violent boyfriend: After this Newt was made to join the others and was held hostage with them. Darren was shot while trying to help Jack, but otherwise they were unharmed. Newt took Warren aside at the hospital and quietly asked him to give the Dog back to Jack. In order to help restore Louise's trust in him, Warren agreed.

On Thursday 6 March 2008, Newt and Lauren decided to have sex. Lauren wanted to have it in a graveyard referring to Romeo and Juliet and Newt told her he wanted it at her house. Newt soon realized he wasn't ready to have sex. After growing angry at Elliot Bevan for not helping the pair with their coursework they tried to trick him about his father returning. They grew worried when he didn't return from the woods where they had led him to. They returned and found a body they assumed was Elliot. They both went to Lauren's older brother Calvin and admitted everything about Elliot. The body was found but it wasnt Elliot, it was Sean Kennedy. Elliot soon retuned, renewed and fed up with all the teasing he had received.

On Friday 20th June, Eli and Newt were set to run away together and restart a life on their own. Newt says his last feeble goodbyes to Lauren and Jack who do not suspect that Newt will be gone forever. He meets Eli at the bus stop and they reflect upon their plans. Meanwhile, Lauren watches one of Newt's many tapes and sees that it was him, not Eli, who wrote threatening messages onto the Dean Residence walls. She sees Newt graffiting and smiling at the camera. Meanwhile, Eli and Newt start chanting 'Eli's gonna get you.' They chant this until Eli fizzles away from the shot, leading the viewers to realise that Eli is really a figment of Newt's imagination, and not a real person. This may therefore show that Newt is actually a schizophrenic or that he suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder.

Relationships

• Foster mother: Frankie Osborne
• Foster father: Jack Osborne
• Foster sisters: Steph Dean, Debbie Dean, Ruth Osborne, Beth Osborne
• Foster brothers: Darren Osborne, Jake Dean, Craig Dean
• Best Friends: Eli (however, later seen to be a figment of Newt's imagination), Lauren Valentine