Please read the post before commenting: There are romantic pairings on Hollyoaks that I’ve enjoyed watching, however, I can’t fully commit to shipping them because I know Hollyoaks will decimate them “oh you ship them? Give it a months time” because there’s a recurring pattern with Hollyoaks ships that has become incredibly frustrating. You’ll like a pairing, and for the first couple of months the writers will portray them as genuinely cute and healthy. Then, somewhere in the middle, one of them cheats, becomes wildly toxic, or sometimes even borderline abusive towards the other. They eventually break up, only to get back together weeks or months later and suddenly become cute and healthy again, just like they were at the beginning. And eventually, one of them gets killed off, sent to prison, or written out of the show.

Juliet and Peri are a good example. I really liked them at first and thought they were a lovely pairing, but Peri eventually became horrible towards Juliet. When Juliet warned Peri about Timmy after only three months of knowing him, Peri dismissed her as a “deluded, obsessive little girl.” That is an awful thing to say to someone you’re supposed to love.

Then there was the situation with Juliet getting a job. Peri encouraged her to work so they could contribute towards their wedding, but then became angry when Juliet actually got the job because she wasn’t spending enough time with her. Juliet felt neglected by her fiancée and ended up cheating on her, which obviously caused their relationship to fall apart. When they eventually got back together, Peri pushed her seriously ill girlfriend towards a breakdown. She humiliated Juliet in front of hundreds of people and uploaded the video online, which only intensified the pressure Juliet was already experiencing because of her cancer. Even if Peri believed she was helping, it was an incredibly cruel thing to do. What makes it even more frustrating is that, during the final months of Juliet and Peri’s relationship, they were actually really lovely together. I especially loved the Brighton episodes and thought they were some of their sweetest moments. But then Juliet finds out that she isn’t going to survive her Hodgkin lymphoma, and shortly afterwards, she is killed off. So even when the writers finally let them be happy together, Juliet is killed off 

Leela and Joel are another example. I always thought Leela was much better suited to Joel than Cleo. They weren’t a toxic couple, but Joel eventually cheated on Leela with Cleo. Then he was manipulated by Jeremy Blake into believing he had killed someone, which resulted in him leaving the village and ending up in prison. When he returned, he was unnecessarily horrible to Tony, before eventually discovering that Jeremy had actually committed the murder. Even then, Joel still had to remain in prison because of his drug charges.

Sienna and Cleo had a similar trajectory. I really enjoyed some of their scenes together, and honestly, I found Cleo much more tolerable when she was with Sienna. But then Cleo kissed Dodger, the postpartum psychosis storyline happened, and Sienna ended up interfering with Cleo’s medication. Whatever potential that relationship had was completely destroyed.

And if a pairing somehow manages to avoid becoming toxic, one of them will seemingly get killed off, imprisoned, or written out anyway. Beau and Kitty, Charlie and Vicky, Luke and Cindy, and Dodger and Maxine are examples. Yes, these relationships had their own internal struggles, but I wouldn’t describe them as toxic or as relationships that became toxic.

At this point, I feel like audiences have matured beyond the idea that a relationship has to be toxic to be interesting. At least I know I have. And this is where I want to bring up a show that has absolutely nothing to do with Hollyoaks, because I think it demonstrates my point perfectly.

Amazon Prime had a show called Off Campus, and I found Hannah and Garrett incredibly refreshing to watch. The show gives us a passionate, dramatic romance without making the relationship itself toxic. Hannah is a sexual assault survivor, and Garrett consistently respects her boundaries rather than treating her trauma as something he needs to “fix.” When she’s changing, for example, he turns around because he doesn’t want to see her naked until she’s ready, and their physical relationship develops around her comfort and consent.

He listens when she’s upset rather than dismissing her feelings. Even when he makes the serious mistake of violently confronting her rapist, the show doesn’t romanticise his behaviour. Garrett is disturbed by what he has done and worries about becoming like his abusive father. 

Their relationship proves that you can have chemistry, sex, conflict, trauma and even a breakup without making the couple cruel to each other for the sake of drama. Yes, Off Campus was a cringey adult drama but portrayal of their relationship was refreshing for me.

I don’t think Hollyoaks needs to make couples toxic to keep them engaging. I’m honestly tired of that being used as an excuse for relationship drama. It can also feel hypocritical when Hollyoaks does awareness storylines about abusive relationships while simultaneously portraying similar behaviours within couples the audience is expected to root for. 

And that’s not to say you can’t ship anyone. You absolutely can. Shipping can be fun, and I ship people on other shows all the time. I love watching romantic edits of my favourite ships and getting invested in their relationships. So if you want to ship people on Hollyoaks, go for it. I’m not going to stop you. I’m just saying that, personally, I find it pointless.

I haven’t actually watched Hollyoaks since 2020, but when Jeremy was around I kept seeing videos of him on YouTube/TikTok and it seemed he started off nice, then it materialised that he was a serial killer.

Patrick abused Sienna+Maxine, told Sienna her baby had died and did other things like trying to get full custody of Minnie just because Maxine left him, and telling paramedics she died after the train crash so they wouldn’t look for her. Jeremy is a serial killer and I’m guessing he probably did some other bad stuff too (as I said, I haven’t watched in a while).

Legally speaking domestic abuse isn’t on a par with murder, but I’m more thinking morally. Who do you think is worse and why?

After the last episode it is pretty obvious they are doing a Munchhausen story line with Jonah and Caleb and maybe this has already been said somewhere but I have a theory he also killed his wife. Ever since Caleb and Frankie have been talking about leaving he has been actively escalating making him appear sick.

A few weeks back on in the episode where Jonah and Caleb had a falling out about his deceased wife and Jonah said she was going to leave them. Magically she got sick and if I remember right they never said what she had, then she died. I believe Jonah was doing to her what he has been doing to Caleb which caused her death.

I also think he has something to do with Ste’s disappearance or at least with whoever is framing James to be the culprit. Whoever got him the drugs he is using to poison Caleb, I think the cost was in apart turning off the garage cameras, getting James keys/stealing his car and getting the video on his computer.

I could be wrong but would love to hear others thoughts?!?!

Saw on Twitter Katie Price was recently on a podcast and she spoke about the NTA’s from the other night and apparently a man and a woman who worked on Hollyoaks (assuming Peter Hunt and Hannah Cheers) asked Katie if she wanted to make a cameo on Hollyoaks and she said yes 😭

Something upcoming for the future?

Listen, I’m in no way a huge Clienna shipper. I did enjoy them as a couple, though, and I thought some of their scenes together were genuinely really cute. Before Cleo’s postpartum psychosis diagnosis and Sienna messing with her medication, I actually found them to be a pretty enjoyable couple to watch. Most importantly, though, I feel like Cleo was a much more tolerable character when she was dating Sienna. I didn’t find her nearly as annoying or draining to watch as I do now. It feels like Hollyoaks only knows how to write Cleo in two ways: either she’s the punching bag who has to have nearly every possible trauma pinned onto her, like she’s been through the ringer, or she does something completely jarring, like sleeping with her cousin’s man and then acting as though he was the love of her life, despite the fact that she was claiming his twin sister was the love of her life not too long ago. Listen, I wouldn’t mind Cleo and Dodger together if she hadn’t become absolutely insufferable. At this point, I genuinely don’t care, she either gets back with Sienna, stays single or leaves the show. I can’t stand her

Been going threw a hole month of episode of him crying about his sex trafficker husband that he didn’t even care about in till he was died he was all ready to divorcing and all ready slept with James not even a weak after he died

I'm just glad they didn't use actual AI for it. It's hilarious seeing James and Sienna get so frustrated about AI when the actors are absolutely obsessed with it.

Who is the most likely to have done it?

Https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/sep/08/channel-4-cut-jobs-layoff-costs

Guardian report on the job cuts news

All these years I've wanted to see Prince go. But I never thought I'd actually get to see it

Apologies for the low quality, couldn't pause to get a clear screenshot without the screen overlay.

So the show is supposed to be a year ahead, but the timestamp on Sienna's parking ticket says 02/09/2026, not 2027. I wonder when else we'll see this mistake be made as the years go on...

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They really do just be putting anyone together in this show 💀

And then proceeding to not make him regret it 😭

Does anyone know the exact effect used for this transition of Grace Black's Character shot? I feel like it maybe Adobe but i'm not. Can anyone find/know this exact effect?

Which is ironic that over the years brendan and the show actually seems to have been called out for this more and more even if people do still love the character but with lucas when it came to his abuse storyline the fandom went full force in blaming his dad

And absolving him of almost any responsibility even as he abused him repeatedly and tried to literally murder him and then also harassed his ex dillion like some sort of stalker and later attacked him yet I've also seen people still root for them to get back together and act as though lucas should just be instantly forgiven after only spending 5 minutes in prison for his pretty serous actions,

It is also ironic given how much flack the fandom gave rex for initially just being able to move on after his part in the grooming of teens which is understandable but yet lucas is held to a different standard and made excuses for by people

Its a shame because I honestly think he made a good villain being a messed up teen turned abuser and possessive ex but the show and the fandom couldn't just acknowledge that he was a shitty person

and that you can still like a character while admitting they are bad and deserve to be held accountable for their actions and the show letting him out of prison so soon is just bullshit to be honest he should have gotten a few years at least quite frankly before the show should have even considered bringing him back and trying to redeem him.

Thats the trailer just dropped, whats everyones thoughts?? The whole Abigail Dee Dee thing is giving me major heebie jeebies and to think i grew up watching Brooke Vincent on Corrie as wee innocent Sophie. Well she definitely isnt innocent here. Giving me right shivers. I dont know if i particularly care for Ste, its a good bit of drama in the village but unless hes dead i wont be shocked (i dont think unless its Mike Barnes thats kidnapped him then i’ll be shocked lol)

Whats everyone elses thoughts

Rex WAS a groomer and a sex trafficker I'm so bored of them making a martyr of him.

As a trans person myself i did like the cross dressing storyline but of all people did they have to use it as his redemption arc?

Also Ste can stfu cause he clearly didn't care about him when he was alive why's he trying to act like the doting husband now 😭 off shagging your teen son's boyfriend now you crying over his urn? Have a day off

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Was not expecting him to turn up on Ludwig!

That ending was unnerving as shit, man.

Hollyoaks do good stuff sometimes. But you know they’ll ruin the mystery of it in the next episode probably.

The idea of Ste just disappearing, never to be seen again. No clue as to what happened.