Hollyoaks is still a vital, necessary show despite Channel 4's cuts
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Since its beginning in 1995, Hollyoaks has been a staple in the lives of many young viewers. It tackles real-life issues, from spiking to gender identity, with grit and glamour. It's a sugar-coated, diamante-encrusted, Chester-set telenovela – and an education for every new generation.
I grew up with Hollyoaks. As a small child, I would watch the Sunday omnibus with my older siblings. It was a ritual, a rite of passage. As the years passed, it became about Sunday-morning hangovers, watching Hollyoaks through weary eyes and with regret-tinged thoughts.
The show and its audience have changed – many of us are a bit more worn-in. But Hollyoaks was, and still is, realistic about the mess, drama and mistakes of youth: the up-close, staring-you-right-in-the-face experience.
It can get a little gritty and intense, but we need to have those conversations. Hollyoaks has always been about inviting young people to come and get close. It won't always be pretty or manicured, but the people will be.
This unique combination has consistently been a defining characteristic and attraction of the soap, and there's nothing wrong with that – only that, by rights, these put-upon Kens and Barbies should look more frazzled, a bit more singed.
Over time, Hollyoaks went from a soap with barely any issues to displaying an almost obsessive need to tackle the bleakest aspects of tabloid news stories, the most dismal sides of humanity – it was, and is, needed.
The stories depicted have often felt like uniquely modern yet unfortunately timeless nightmares. One early example is the death of Kurt Benson's (Jeremy Edwards) girlfriend, Natasha Andersen (Shebah Ronay), whose drink was spiked with ecstasy.
Even years later, when I experienced being spiked on a night out, it felt like something I had to turn away from – I just had to pretend it didn't happen and ignore it. But whether it happened in the '90s, the 2000s, or the 2020s, these experiences affect people daily, and turning away doesn't make them less real.
This hard truth can also be seen in the recently-revealed plot that JJ Osborne (Ryan Mulvey) has been subjecting his sister Frankie Osborne (Isabelle Smith) to sexual abuse, the trauma of which has triggered recent worrying behaviour, an issue that many would flinch away from depicting.
There is also the ongoing storyline that sees conversion therapy on-screen, depicting characters being targeted and manipulated because of their sexuality.
The storyline, like many, has built up, up and up over time, initially showing how a vulnerable John Paul McQueen (James Sutton) was picked apart by his internal conflicts and the coercion of others. The storyline took another turn when teen Lucas Hay (Oscar Curtis), who recently realised he is gay, was manipulated into self-loathing so wholly that he began to self-harm.
Hollyoaks has, perhaps most famously, also delved into the hard topic of male sexual assault and the rape of men when Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy) was attacked in 2000.
The show also explored abuse in sports, as Luke's son Ollie Morgan (then played by Aedan Duckworth) was groomed and abused by his football coach.
These powerful narratives have fed through decades and generations – the ongoing impact of Luke's rape was revisited 17 years later, his posture sunken as he pleaded with his rapist, "I need you to admit it, just once, please!" It invited the audience to see, once again, these ugly, tangible things that are so often staring us in the face.
Elsewhere, the show has also been commended for its positive, careful handling of Rose Lomax's (Ava Webster) journey of self-discovery regarding gender identity. The storyline's originality comes from Rose's age, as no other soap has shown a transgender journey with a young child on-screen.
None of these experiences or ideas are uniquely modern; they are timeless but once well-hidden, ignored realities.
As time has passed, technology has evolved, moving from floppy disks to streaming services, and the television landscape has shifted from fixed schedules to more flexible viewing options.
Streamlining soaps, as with Hollyoaks going from five days a week to three, with a smaller cast and crew, might have a long-term benefit. But that doesn't mean we can't fear for the future, fear for the pain of the transition to the next era of what was once the new British soap.
Many people built Hollyoaks from the ground up, and there's no way to succeed without having a team and all the moving parts that help bring it to life.
Broadcasters like Channel 4 are responsible for supporting and maintaining shows like Hollyoaks, as they serve as platforms for emerging talent in the television industry. These shows provide valuable opportunities for actors, writers, directors, and other behind-the-scenes professionals to hone their craft and showcase their skills.
As Neighbours' brief cancellation in 2022 and, more recently, Doctors' cancellation proved, losing a long-running soap can have significant implications for the industry. It will affect people's livelihoods and create a void in opportunities for new talent development, impacting new generations.
The people who grow up knowing these characters and being aware of these experiences are better for it, but where else can the next generation of people who bring them to life, flesh them and their stories out, truly get their start?
For as long as Hollyoaks has any meaning to young people – if it teaches them to look right in the face of an issue, if they find a connection to a character's experiences, if they can cling to a brief memory of when a character experiences something for reassurance, if they just enjoy the show for its flashy or silent moments, or if it simply provides comfort during a hangover – it will be worthwhile.
Hollyoaks streams first online via Channel 4 each weekday at 7.30pm. Episodes then air on E4 the following day, before getting their YouTube premiere a week after that.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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