#ruby button

Hollyoaks is an English serial soap aimed at teens. Hollyoaks has been running for just over ten years but it is as popular now as its launch. So what lessons can writers learn from Hollyoaks?

Overload of drama

Yes it is a soap and soaps are supposed to be dramatic. But Hollyoaks takes the motherfucking biscuit. How dramatic I hear you ask? One character, Sienna Blake is a prime example. Sienna is a victim of parental abuse at the hands of her father who locks her in a basement for a year while she gives birth to a baby girl fathered by her own twin brother (she didn't know), is told the baby girl Nico is dead, reunites with said brother and kidnaps him to start a new family along with the newly returned Nico, scams a married man into thinking she is pregnant, kidnaps his nephew when he found out and threatened to tell, tries to kill the guy's wife and kids, her daughter tries to kill her and half the cast and then returns after faking her death to kill Sienna. (*takes pull off inhaler*) Overload of drama can swamp your reader's disbelief and it can also cheapen a story line because or over troping.

Realism

Hollyoaks is unrealistic. I love it but it could almost be considered fantasy. At one point in time, there were at least three active serial killers within walking distance of each other: Nico Blake, Silas and Lindsay Butterfield. Death is a flimsy concept here. Nico Blake gets no less an two ex machinas.

Handling of Massive Themes

Hollyoaks does not shy from tackling heavy themes. In recent years, they have tackled rape, abuse, eating disorders, self-harm, cancer and suicide. Their #don'tfilterfeelings campaign was their most successful storyline. You must be able to tackle tough subjects using: respect, research and realism.

Time

The storylines of Hollyoaks take ages. Nothing ever has a short life. They are guilty of milking their storylines for as long as possible. Cleo's abuse storyline took over a year to even begin and then went on for months. The storyline of John Paul McQueen and Finn was one of my favourites but dear god they dragged it out. The whole Gloved Killer storyline when on and on until I wanted to head to Hollyoaks University Hospital to end it. Sometimes the side storylines can go on too long in a story. Know when to end them and don't milk them.

A call back

This one is not exactly a reoccurring tool used but Hollyoaks used it once and oh boy, was that just amazing.

So a bit of background: Ruby and Johnny are in love. They were planning on getting married but a bus crash stalled them. Thankful of their survival, they chill out on a pier looking at the stars above. Johnny lies in Ruby's arms. Ruby is talking about the life they will have. She looks down and sees that Johnny has died in her arms due to the head injury he sustained during the crash.

More recently, Alfie and Jade were going out. Both of them had cancer and had survived. Jade fell ill again. To comfort her, Alfie lays in her hospital bed with her. He begins talking to her, about stars, their love and a future they will not have. Jade dies in his arms.

So similar points:

Young tragic teens in love

Starry nights

Lingering threat

Dying in the arms of the one you love

Subtle callbacks can make a story more enjoyable and be a good reward for eagle eyed readers.

Rounding up a week in Hollyoaks (20th-24th November 2017)

It was the week of Frankie’s funeral and as Jack was being about as much help as a Hollyoaks Police officer at a crime scene, Darren and Esther were forced to take over the arrangements. Unfortunately, Jack was less than impressed with their choices and attempted to organise the whole thing himself with only days left. With Charlie having broken Frankie’s favourite limited edition Cher record, of which only 50 were ever made, Jack declared that he was off to track down one of the other 49. Cue CherLover73 coming to the rescue and charging £2000 for the collectible.  Jack, along with Darren, headed off to a deserted yard to collect the record, only to find a very angry dog and no sign of the seller. With no obvious means of escape, Darren and Jack were forced to spend the night in the car.

The day of Frankie’s funeral dawned and back at the Osborne house, Jack and Darren’s absence was starting to cause concern. Esther in particular took the news badly. With Jake and Debbie having missed their flight (what bad luck!) and Craig in Singapore with John Paul, what would Frankie think of Jack and Darren missing the funeral too? Nancy was adamant that they should postpone, but Esther was having none of it and so the remaining Osborne’s, along with Ruby, who returned, headed to the church. As Charlie and Oscar finished their speech, Jack and Darren arrived, having managed to get the record after all. The guests then headed to The Dog for the wake, where all hell broke loose! Ruby’s ‘perfect’ life was revealed to not be so perfect after all and she threw herself at Luke, Jack disappeared again and Myra got caught sneaking the contents of the Buffett into her handbag...

Meanwhile, Luke was keen to prove to Mandy that he’d changed but Milo, fearing that Mandy was starting to warm to Luke again, soon put a stop to any hopes of a reunion with the help of a dodgy breathalyser. Believing Luke to have fallen off the wagon, Mandy was devastated and headed off to visit Ella alone. Realising that his actions had hurt Mandy, Milo had a change of heart and, with Luke in tow, raced off to find her. Mandy was relived when Milo revealed that the breathalyser was faulty and allowed Luke to join her and Ella as they spent the day in Chester. The trio’s day out was a success and once Ella had gone back to her foster parents, Mandy went off to get ice creams for her and Luke (bit harsh, if you ask me, waiting until Ella had gone!) but when she returned, she found Luke gone. Unbeknownst to Mandy, Luke had seen Mark Gibbs, the man who raped him 17 years ago, and done a runner. Back in the village, Luke was devastated to discover via social media how well Mark’s life was going and so used a fake name and a photo of Nancy to befriend him, with the intention of meeting up...

Elsewhere, Scott returned home from hospital and Brody, Damon and Diane were delighted to see him. As the group gathered at The Dog, they were interrupted by Maggie, who was apparently keen to make amends with Scott. Scott was delighted by his Mother’s supposed u-turn and gave her a bracelet he’d made in art therapy. After Maggie had left, Brody realised that she’d left her purse behind and as he chased after her, saw her put Scott’s bracelet in the bin. After being confronted, Maggie revealed that she had just wanted to get back in Damon’s good books and had no intention of getting to know Scott properly. Brody felt he had no option but to tell Damon and Scott was upset when he overheard the pair talking. We would see Maggie again later when Joel and Sienna bumped into her on the oncology ward, preparing to undergo chemo...

Also this week, the search for baby Daniel continued as Leela and Louis took part in a press conference. Later, as she walked through the village, Leela heard the sound of a baby crying coming from Sienna’s flat and realised that it was Daniel. Racing up there, he suspicions were confirmed and she berated herself for not realising sooner that the local child snatcher was responsible. Leela soon began to feel sorry for Sienna as the true extent of her troubles became apparent and she agreed not to report Sienna. Unfortunately, Louis had other ideas and arrived at the flat with Ry Ry in tow. Luckily for Sienna, Leela was able to talk Ry Ry into merely cautioning Sienna over her latest kidnapping.

Finally, Mac got himself into a right pickle this week when Jack caught him examining the burn he’d obtained in the school explosion. Realising that Jack was on to him, Mac attacked him and we got to witness him becoming increasingly frustrated as one by one, members of his family kept wandering in as Jack lay unconscious behind the sofa. Mac’s plan to move Jack had to be put on hold when Marnie phoned to inform him and Ellie that she and Alfie were on their way to hospital as Alfie had found another lump. There was relief all round when the lump turned out to just be a cyst and Mac was able to return home and move Jack, but, as we would later discover, Mac’s not very good at this murdering lark as Jack’s not actually dead...

5 Things We Learnt This Week:

1. Mandy has many strange little foibles. Like eating a burger separate from its bun. 

2. An umbrella makes an excellent weapon to frighten away intruders. 

3. For someone who supposedly runs a bar, Ruby’s pint pulling skills are severely lacking. 

4. You can always rely on Tom to brighten up a eulogy. 

5. After John Paul received a phone call from Craig in his final episode back in March, we finally found out that they’re together again! 

Characters Featured:

Alfie, Brody, Charlie, Cindy, Damon, Daniel, Darren, Diane, Ella, Ellie, Esther, Hunter, Jack, Joel, Leela, Lisa, Louis, Luke, Mac, Maggie, Mandy, Mark, Marnie, Myra, Milo, Nancy, Oscar, Ryan, Sally, Scott, Sebastian, Sienna, Simone, Tony, Tom and Zack. 

Past Characters Mentioned:

Hollyoaks explored the devastating effects of bullying in 2012 when kind-hearted teenager, Esther Bloom, found herself suffering a terrible ordeal at the hands of Maddie Morrison, Sinead O’Connor and Ruby Button. 

Although Sinead and Ruby had picked on their ‘friend’, Esther, before, it was the arrival of Maddie to Hollyoaks village that caused things to step up a gear. Maddie was the queen bee of the 6th form and everyone wanted to be friends with her. During a Summer holiday to Abersoch, Esther tried to kiss Maddie and upon their return to 6th form, Maddie spread rumours that Esther had a mustache, resulting in teasing from her classmates. 

With this storyline, Hollyoaks brought bullying bang up to date and demonstrated how bullying in the 21st century rarely starts and ends at the school gates. Maddie, Sinead and Ruby posted several humiliating videos of Esther on social media as well as sending her abusive text messages although perhaps their cruelest trick of all was creating a fake profile and using it to befriend Esther. At teacher Jen Gilmore’s suggestion, Esther joined a social media site in an attempt to make friends. She began talking to a girl named ‘Rosie’ and when it appeared the two had quite a lot in common, they arranged to meet. As Esther headed off to the meeting, she was terrified when she discovered what appeared to be a dead body and after she was grabbed from behind by Bart McQueen, she wet herself in fear. The footage, which had been recorded by Maddie, was posted online, resulting in Esther being a laughing stock at school. When Esther attempted to tell her grandmother, Frankie, what had happened, Ruby made out that they had been trying to do something nice and ‘oversensitive’ Esther was told off for exaggerating. 

Things got worse for Esther in November 2012, when Jono, Maddie and Neil were killed in a bus crash. Before her death, Maddie had blamed Esther for the accident as Esther had encouraged Bart McQueen to chase after the bus full of 6th formers, who had been on their way to Ruby and Jono’s wedding. Ruby and Sinead were left devastated by the deaths of their friends, and with Maddie’s last words ringing in their ears, the bullying campaign continued.

Ruby and Sinead made it perfectly clear to Esther that they blamed her for the deaths as they continued to taunt her. During a fight with Esther, Ruby’s locket, which contained Jono’s ashes, got broken and Ruby told Jack and Frankie that she had done it on purpose. Esther found herself in deeper trouble when little Charlie Dean went missing whilst she was supposed to be looking after him. Ruby lied to the family that Esther had called Charlie ‘a little brat’ and even though Charlie was soon found safe and well, Esther took the brunt of everyone’s anger. 

Esther reached breaking point after the Christmas holidays, when Ruby and Sinead arranged for her to receive abusive text messages from her classmates, stating that they wished she’d died in the bus crash. Esther was left humiliated when she had bottles of urine thrown at her in school and decided there was only one thing she could do.

After an anti-bullying work shop at school (which was ironically delivered by Sinead’s step-mother), Esther headed to the folly and swallowed a bottle of pills, washed down with vodka however, in heartbreaking scenes, she woke up the following morning and realised that her suicide bid had been unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Jack and Frankie had been searching for Esther all night and were furious with her when she returned home. Believing her to have been out drinking all night, Jack and Frankie tore in to her, but were left shocked when she suddenly collapsed. 

Esther was rushed to hospital and it soon became clear that she had tried to end her life. As the Osborne’s attempted to come to terms with the devastating news, they were left questioning why Esther would do such a thing and as news reached the school, Ruby and Sinead agreed to keep quiet about the bullying.  

Esther may have survived her suicide attempt, but the prognosis wasn’t good. The pills had caused irreversible damage to her liver and she was told that without a transplant, she would die. 

Despite her earlier pact with Sinead, Ruby began to feel guilty and confessed all about the bullying to Jack and Frankie and it wasn’t long before Sinead’s role was revealed too. As Ruby showed genuine remorse for what she’d done, she received a relatively minor punishment and was suspended from school for a couple of weeks. Sinead, however, refused to feel guilty and was permanently excluded, thus ruining her chances of going to university to study to become a vet.