Hollyoaks boss confirms huge spoilers and jaw-dropping twists including ‘boldest ever storyline’

It’s a bold step that no other soap has undertaken so I can offer nothing but kudos to Hollyoaks boss Hannah Cheers for not only navigating huge changes to a digital led move, including huge staff cuts and an entire change to schedules and storylines, but also grabbing quite an ambitious way to kick off the new era – a time-jump by a year.

Or, as one colleague calls it, Hollyoaks Season 2.

Whatever you think of the concept, there’s no arguing that it’s going to be packed with major storylines for many of the show’s legends including Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe), Cleo McQueen (Nadine Mulkerrin), Tony Hutchinso (Nick Pickard) and Frankie Osborne (Isabelle Smith) among others.

Sitting down with Metro.co.uk, Hannah more than eager to impart some intel – while also assuring that the time-jump is not just a gimmick; the missing 12 months lend endless opportunities for mystery, drip fed revelations and secrets and game-changing developments.

Below, you will find the mega teasers she shared with me and I get the impression that it’s just scratching the surface.

I must say it makes me optimistic – there clearly isn’t going to be a single uneventful episode.

Mercedes’ cancer journey

‘I think Mercedes is now in the most original and boldest story we’ve ever told with her, coming from the character. She’s had quite a year, the hopeless romantic that she is, and her everlasting quest for love, for the right person for her and it hasn’t worked out. But she’s a mother first and foremost of two young girls and she can’t make those mistakes again.

‘Then what happens is completely out of your control and takes over your life, and how does it affect your decision-making?

‘Mercedes we all know has always been a reckless, headstrong character who doesn’t really give a s*** about the consequences, acts first and thinks later. How does cancer change that? Does it make you even more reckless and fear life less, or does it do the opposite?  

‘There is a love story that will start to come forward in which we’ll see Mercedes in a position we’ve never seen her occupy in a story before. Again, it’s how much cancer changes that and I think that fresh start for Mercedes is important and we’ll have a lot of fresh energy.’  

Ste – what now after James’ death?

‘Ste obviously has a whole new heap of tragedy to process but with a lot of new elements coming in that will drive him in his story. For Ste, the story that we see for the last part of 2024 is very much a conclusion of everything we’ve watched from January 2024.

‘We’ll see all of that come together and say “This is where Ste’s at now.” There’s a lot of intrigue around the story and hopefully we do some things which are important and well placed with him.’ 

Tony’s marriage breakdown

Tony, our Mr Hollyoaks, who is Hollyoaks personified in terms of the character type he is, has a new story where he’s navigating a very real and very difficult situation at home which I think will be  really relatable for a lot of people.

‘Tony and Diane navigating the end of that relationship or marriage – but is it all really over? My ambition for the story is to continue in the vein we’ve been telling the Ro story. It’s kind of visceral and real. It’s like “What would you do?” It’s universal, every parent would feel, “How would I respond to Ro as a parent?”

‘And equally navigating divorce with children, and new relationships and trying to be a decent, honourable person all the time is a very common feeling among parents of that age. Hopefully that will really resonate. And also give us a lot of fun along the way, which is important.’ 

Sienna – what happened during that year, and what are the consequences? 

Sienna has a very interesting year ahead. She’s obviously got new family members to explore the dynamics with and that’s still a family very much laden with secrets and new mysteries to be uncovered. At the same time she has a new relationship, which I think the viewers will enjoy.

Now that she’s got a real family behind her, relationships get viewed through a very different prism now that you’ve got a father on the scene, and what do your sisters feel? I would say the next year for Sienna is about Sienna as a member of that family.

It’s about blood line, it’s about is your future pre-destined, can you change who you are, can you change where you come from? Is there a sense of inevitability about how her life will end up? Would things be different if my parents weren’t my parents?

I think it’ll be very divisive and I think you’ll never quite know what’s true and what isn’t, which I think is exciting. To be able to get to that point with Sienna after all these years…

‘I think the thing about Sienna, for me, is that we don’t fully know Sienna. Even if we’ve got to a place over the last few years where it’s like, “OK, we understand who Sienna is now” – she’s ingratiated herself into society, got a job, she’s functioning – she’s still Sienna. She really hasn’t changed.

‘That’s the thing I really wanted to come back to. You never quite know what’s real and what isn’t real and what’s going on below the surface.’  

Abe’s reign of terror as Cleo remains his hostage

‘I think there’s been a really steady momentum from January in the story and I think the engagement in the Cleo story, and the feelings about Abe that intensified in recent weeks over the summer which I’ve been very delighted with because it’s got us to the right point in the time jump.

The truth in these relationships is that every time you think it gets bad it gets worse. That was the kind of thing that was driving me a bit because I thought, even when we think it’s the end of the story it isn’t the end of the story. T

‘he thing I was really keen on exploring with Abe was, often there’s a way of telling these stories where you’re rooting for the victim to be a survivor and to come out and expose what’s happened.

‘Then an inevitable endgame plays out where they need to get done by the police and everyone thinks it’s a done deal.

‘The truth of it is there are so many people anecdotally where they say, “We know he knocked her around,” and whatever and it’s kind of brushed under the carpet. It’s like a matter of opinion, and I think that’s obviously completely wrong.

‘I wanted to challenge that and explore it and very much highlight the “He said, she said” nature of these awful issues. Just because Cleo’s exposed her bruises and exposed him to the family, doesn’t mean that carries any weight in the justice system or in terms of how he could be prosecuted.  

‘With Cleo out of the picture, what’s going to happen to Abe?  These people get away with it for years and years and years. I wanted to see what that looks like when he has got a mother that loves him and will forgive him endlessly.

‘He’s got family members that absolutely hate him, every time they see him in the street they yell and scream in his face. But it doesn’t change the fact that he’s a free man able to walk around that village and therefore he can build a new life for himself.

‘We can still do a lot more with this story and entrench those characters even deeper. There are other secrets about what went on in the year that will start to unfold.

The time-jump – a lot happened in that year…

There are Easter eggs at every turn in the weeks and months to come. It’s the thing we were most passionate about trying to achieve. It’s so exciting at every point to go, “Hang on, we’re saying that these two people have this friendship, but what’s to say that this didn’t happen over there and what actually happened that we don’t know about and they haven’t told anybody?”

‘There’s a whole range of secrets, really big dark stuff people are hiding – some stuff that’s gossip and assumptions people had about each other and realise they’re wrong.

‘Smaller things, little mysteries, and bigger things that will dictate how the characters continue in the show, how their lives were changed by this year.  

‘It’s been the best version narratively of what we’ve been able to do, it’s such a treat.’

Frankie and JJ – not over

Hannah also started to tell us a bit about Frankie and JJ – the story is not over and we will see a trial underway – but will Frankie get justice and how will Darren, Nancy and the rest of the family navigate those events. There’s also another game-changing development which turns everything on its end.

We don’t have verbatim quotes from her on this because we were interrupted by a happy rendition for the wonderful Jennifer Metcalfe. And when there is cake involved, interviews are over. And rightfully so (it was very flavoursome and moist in case you’re wondering)

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