For those of you merely tuning in to see what all the fuss is about, after Channel 4 and E4 taunted you with a series of thrilling Hollyoaks Later (HL) adverts, here is your Dummies Guide to… Hollyoaks Later.
Are you ready? Concentration is the Key.
Story 1: Stephanie De La Dean, Craig Dean and Tom Cunningham are staying in a cottage in Scotland. Niall Rafferty follows them to create havoc among the Scottish Highlands.
Steph and Craig are sister and brother – daughter and son of Frankie Osborne. Tom is the brother of the deceased Max Cunningham. Steph and Max got married this summer. Only for Niall to ‘accidentally’ run Max over on their wedding day. In his will, Max left guardianship of Tom to Steph. Steph became involved with village hairdresser Niall. Unbeknown to her, Niall is actually the son of Myra McQueen. Myra McQueen had a child when she was a teenager and abandoned him on the doorstep of a local church. Niall returned to Hollyoaks to seek his revenge on Myra and the rest of her family. Kidnapping Myra and her children, Niall took them to the church where he was abandoned. He blew the church up, resulting in the death of one of the McQueen sisters, Tina. Niall went on the run.
In HL, Craig convinces Steph to get away ‘everything and everybody’ and whisked (in the least romantic sense of the word) Steph and Tom off to Scotland. Niall, wanting to reconcile with Steph and get her back, follows them.
Story 2: Nancy Hayton, Zoe Carpenter and Sarah Barnes embark on a girlie road-trip. First stop is Zoe’s old school and then on to Silverstone Race Course where Sarah has a photo shoot.
Nancy and Sarah have been friends since they both attended Hollyoaks High. Zoe appeared on the scene when she began her undergraduate degree at Hollyoaks Community College (HCC). The three became friends over a period of time. However, Sarah and Zoe experienced a turbulent time in their friendship when they Zoe started to date Sarah’s dad, Mike Barnes, who she is still in a relationship with.
Story 3: Zak Ramsey and Elliot Bevan have been collecting tokens in order to get a cheap trip to Dublin, Ireland. Mercedes McQueen has made the quick decision to find her love, Malachy Fisher in Belfast. When Zak and Elliot miss their boat and Mercedes misses hers, they decide to stick together and all go to Belfast to help Mercedes find her love.
Zak and Elliot are both students at Hollyoaks Community College. Mercedes (who went through the terrible ordeal described in Story 1 with Niall Rafferty) was dating Malachy until she discovered that he was HIV positive and had neglected to tell her. Malachy found out that his father had died (but was buried disguised as Jack Osborne) and had to go to Belfast to break the news to his mother. Through numerous phone calls and text messages Malachy reveals his undying love for Mercedes and asks her to marry him. She ignores his pestering but eventually makes up her mind that she needs Malachy in her life. Mercedes leaves Chester for Belfast and is accompanied by two university students, Zak and Elliot.
Story 4: Josh Ashworth, Amy Barnes, Michaela McQueen and Sasha Valentine make up the band, The Dirty Diegos. Josh finds out that they have got through to the Battle of the Bands in Liverpool and the four hopefuls travel to the city to perform alongside The Saturdays.
Josh, Amy, Micaela and Sasha all attended Hollyoaks High. They have all experienced personal tragedy in their lives. Josh is in love with Amy and has been since they were young teenagers. He lives with his parents, his brother and sister, and his brother’s best friend, in the pub which his father has just recently bought. The Ashworth family were subject to village gossip when it was revealed that Josh’s older brother, Rhys was having an affair with his half-sister, Beth, and also, when Josh’s sister Hannah, was admitted to hospital after being diagnosed with anorexia.
As a result of a park romp, Amy fell pregnant at the age of 15. She does not know the father of her daughter, Leah. Amy became involved with unsavoury Ste Hay and they moved in together. Ste began physically abusing Amy. Amy didn’t tell anyone about this but eventually ran away. She returned to live with her father (Mike Barnes) and sister (Sarah Barnes).
Michaela was accused of being a heroin addict after she was found, unconscious at a McQueen house party with a needle by her side, and was admitted to hospital. It was later revealed that her estranged older brother, Niall Rafferty had injected her with the heroin in an attempt to get revenge on his mother. Niall then kidnapped the McQueen clan and blew them up in the church where he was abandoned by his mother, Myra McQueen. Michaela has had trouble coming to terms with losing her sister, Tina in the explosion.
Sasha became a heroin addict after her ex-boyfriend, Fletch introduced her to drugs. Her addiction spiralled out of control and resulted in her sleeping with her drug dealer just to get a fix. Her family helped her to come clean, providing her with Methodone.
Story 5: Malachy and Kris Fisher are in Belfast mourning the death of their father.
Kris Fisher is a student at Hollyoaks Community College and his brother, Malachy is a builder. Malachy tried to give blood but found out that he is HIV positive. After he received the news, he embarked on a three day bender in order to deal with the trauma. Meanwhile, the woman he was seeing, Mercedes slept with his brother Kris. On his return, Malachy told Kris about his condition and Kris had to take emergency medication. Malachy failed to immediately alert Mercedes to his condition and continued to have a sexual relationship with her. When she did eventually find out, Mercedes spit up with Malachy. She has to wait 3 months to find out if she is infected.
Meanwhile, Jack Osborne and his son, Darren found the body of Kris and Malachy’s father in the car park of their (then) pub, The Dog. Due to the current financial situation Jack had found himself in, Darren convinces him to pretend that Darren had actually found Jack’s body in the car park. Darren can then claim Jack’s life insurance save The Dog. Everyone believes them. Jack goes into hiding and the village bury what they think is Jack, but is actually the father of Kris and Malachy.
Finally, after months of waiting, Niall decided to play out his revenge in full, he discovered Jack and Darren’s fraudulent secret. It also happened that the copper who put Niall’s biological father in jail, was Jack Osborne. Convenient. Niall tries to kill Jack but fails (can the abandoned boy do nothing right?). Jack is alerted to Niall’s nasty plan and attempts to help the McQueen posse, revealing himself as alive in the process.
Darren had to confess to Malachy and Kris that the man that they all buried was in fact their father.
Malachy and Kris head to Belfast to break the news to their mother and to have their father’s wake.
Story 6: Dom Reilly is living with Justin Burton and Ste Hay after moving out of the flat he shared with brother, Tony Hutchinson. Dom attempts to move on from the loss of his wife and falls for a woman he met in a strip club.
Dom Reilly, Robin to our Batman (he is Tony Hutchinson’s brother) recently lost his wife, Tina, in Niall-gate. Getting over her death, Dom moves out of the flat he shares with Tony and moves in with losers Ste Hay and Justin Burton, who end up brandishing themselves as the three musketeers.
Now you know the absolute ins and outs of the stories of Hollyoaks Later, immerse and indulge yourselves in the dramas to come… there will be many.
