Hollyoaks is a British television soap opera that was first broadcast on 23 October 1995. The following is a list of characters that have appeared or will appear in the serial in 2018, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by executive producer, Bryan Kirkwood. The first characters to be introduced were Scarlett Morgan (Susie Amy) and Oliver Morgan (Aedan Duckworth/Gabriel Clark), the estranged wife and son of Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy). Buster Smith (Nathan Sussex), the father of Damon Kinsella (Jacob Roberts), was also introduced in January. Theo Jones (Matt Kennard), the brother of Milo Entwistle (Nathan Morris), Harley Frater (Mollie Lambert), the homeless friend of Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell), and Josh Bradley (Rupert Hill), the son of Ben Bradley (Ben Richards), made their debut in April. Breda McQueen (Moya Brady) and Sylver McQueen (David Tag), the mother and brother of Goldie McQueen (Chelsee Healey), and Kameela (Anu Hasan), the sister of Misbah Maalik (Harvey Virdi), first appeared in June.
July features the arrivals of Donna-Marie Quinn (Lucy-Jo Hudson), her son, Romeo (Owen Warner), Brooke Hathaway (Tylan Grant), a foster child for the Osborne family, and Asha Kaur (Rukku Nahar), the sister of Neeta Kaur (Amrit Maghera), as well as the appearance of Kashif Maalik (Nitin Patel). Martine Deveraux (Kéllé Bryan), the sister of Simone Loveday (Jacqueline Boatswain), debuts in October. Three characters were introduced in November: Laurie Shelby (Kyle Pryor), the husband of Sinead O'Connor (Stephanie Davis), Juliet Quinn (Niamh Blackshaw), Donna-Marie's daughter, and Jonny Baxter (Ray Quinn), a radicalist who befriends Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson). Simone and Martine's father, Walter Deveraux (Trevor A. Toussaint), joins the soap in December. Additionally, multiple other characters appear throughout the year.
Trigger
Trigger, played by Adam Sina, was a criminal associate of Glenn Donovan (Bob Cryer), who threatens Glenn and his partner, Grace Black (Tamara Wall) after their drug shipment goes wrong. When Glenn's sons, Adam Donovan (Jimmy Essex) and Jesse Donovan (Luke Jerdy), arrive, Trigger panics, and hits Glenn before fleeing. It emerges that Trigger and Glenn are working together and planned the hit, which Grace later discovers after finding Trigger; she stages Trigger's kidnapping, hoping that Glenn would tell her about Trigger, but this fails when Glenn nearly kills Trigger.
When Adam reports Glenn's crimes to the police, Grace informs Glenn that Trigger informed them, so Glenn threatens him and prepares to kill him until Trigger convinves Glenn that he did not report him. Under Glenn's instructions, Trigger attacks Maxine Minniver (Nikki Sanderson) and steals money that Glenn gave her. Glenn then kills Trigger since he believes that Trigger reported him to the police, and Adam buries his body, which is later discovered by the police. Glenn and Ryan Knight (Duncan James) then frame Shane Sweeney (Michael Salami) for Trigger's murder.
Scarlett Morgan
Scarlett Morgan, played by Susie Amy, made her first appearance on 19 January 2018. Amy's casting was announced on 20 October 2017, with further details about her character, including her name, announced on 6 December 2017. Scarlett is Luke Morgan's (Gary Lucy) estranged wife, who left him because of his drinking problems. The character is first mentioned in October 2017 and it is revealed that Scarlett left Luke after he struggled with alcoholism and became erratic. Scarlett made her last appearance on 18 April 2018. In February 2022, it was confirmed that Amy would be reprising her role as Scarlett as part of an "explosive" guest return.
Luke prepares to marry Mandy Richardson (Sarah Jayne Dunn) and asks lawyer Sami Maalik (Rishi Nair) to track down Scarlett so they can arrange a divorce. Scarlett appears in the village in the days before Luke and Mandy's wedding. Luke tries to stall the wedding after learning about Scarlett's appearance. Scarlett tries to ruin the wedding but her and Luke's son, Oliver Morgan (Aedan Duckworth), arrives and reveals to Mandy that he is Luke's son and that Luke and Scarlett are married. After the wedding, Scarlett leaves but returns when Oliver runs away to the village. She is shocked to discover that Oliver wants to stay with Luke and leaves the village.
Oliver Morgan
Oliver Morgan made his first screen appearance on 22 January 2018. The character had previously been mentioned on-screen, but Aedan Duckworth's casting in the role was announced on 6 December 2017. Oliver is Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy) and Scarlett Morgan's (Susie Amy) son. Details of why Oliver comes to the village were not immediately released, but Daniel Kilkely of Digital Spy reported that "with Oliver now a teenager, he's sure to want answers from his dad." Of his casting, Duckworth said: "I started two weeks ago and it was in at the deep end – I had to spend my whole second day crying! It has been fantastic working with Gary Lucy and Susie Amy and I am looking forward getting to work with more of the cast and settling in properly next year." Duckworth vacated the role in 2020 and the character was recast with Gabriel Clark, who debuted in November 2020.
It was announced on 25 March 2018 that Oliver would feature in a sexual abuse storyline with his football coach, Buster Smith (Nathan Sussex). The storyline, which was billed as "an emotional and challenging story", began in April when Oliver confides in Buster over his home life. Hollyoaks worked with the Survivors Manchester charity for the storyline. Charity founder Duncan Craig described the subject as "so topical and relevant" and "hugely important". He stated that the storyline would focus on details of grooming and Oliver's struggle to tell someone about the issue. Duckworth took support from the charity and Lucy while filming the storyline and felt honoured to be handed the story. Duckworth and executive producer Bryan Kirkwood hoped that the storyline would encourage others to seek support. Kirkwood also wanted to encourage parents to speak to their children about topics like this and commented, "We are in a unique position of being able to talk to a bright and engaged audience about important issues without lecturing them."
Reception For his portrayl of Oliver, Duckworth was nominated for Best Soap Newcomer at the 2018 Digital Spy Reader Awards; he came in fourth place with 9.4% of the total votes. The following year, Duckworth received his first National Television Awards nomination in the Newcomer category for his portrayal of Oliver. Storylines Oliver first appears when he crashes his dad Luke Morgan's (Gary Lucy) wedding to Mandy Richardson (Sarah Jayne Dunn) and reveals that he is Luke's son and that Luke is still married to Scarlett Morgan (Susie Amy), who was Luke's previous wife and Oliver's mother. Oliver and Luke bond after the wedding. The following day, Oliver appears at Luke's house and asks to stay with him. Luke agrees and is surprised to discover that Oliver has run away from Scarlett. When Scarlett returns and tries to take Oliver back to their home, Oliver insists to Scarlett that he wants to remain with Luke so Scarlett tearfully leaves the village. Oliver joins the football academy run by Buster Smith (Nathan Sussex) a former football champion player from back in the day from when he was much younger back then. Over the next few weeks, Oliver becomes closer to Buster confiding in him over situations in his home life such as his discovery that his father had been raped when he was younger after being told this by friend and also a member of Buster's football academy Imran Maalik (Ijaz Rana). Oliver has also been confiding in Buster and putting all of his trust in him such as telling Buster about his biological dad and new stepmum Mandy always arguing day in and day out and his dad turning back to the drink again after being an alcoholic before.
It is revealed on-screen that Buster is a paedophile who groomed and sexually abused his son Damon Kinsella's (Jacob Roberts) best friend, Brody Hudson (Adam Woodward), when he was an underage teenager. After Oliver is injured while playing a game of football with Buster outside of the Bean Cafe, Buster takes him back to the changing rooms at the football academy and begins massaging his leg while also staring at Oliver lustfully. A few weeks later, when Oliver and Buster are alone together in the changing rooms at the football academy, Buster is telling Oliver about his potential when Oliver's leg injury comes back and Buster tells him to lie down on the bench so he can then properly examine it and shuts the door behind them. Oliver then runs out of the changing rooms scared and confused, and although it is not specified on screen, it is implied that Buster has touched Oliver inappropriately. Oliver becomes traumatised but because of Luke's continued drinking, he feels that he cannot tell anyone so quits the football team instead but is convinced to re-join the football team again by Luke. Buster begins manipulating Oliver by telling him that he must prove to him of how much that he truly wants to be back on the football team again.
Oliver meets autistic teenager Brooke Hathaway (Tylan Grant) and develops an instant attraction with the two hitting it off at the Bean. Brooke later comes to watch Oliver play but after he underperforms, Buster takes him to the changing rooms at the football academy to berate him for being distracted today. He puts his hand on Oliver's knee inappropriately, which is witnessed secretly by Brooke. Oliver feels uncomfortable with Buster doing this to him and he rushes out of the football academy to get away from Buster. Oliver and Mandy run into Brooke the next day with Nancy Osborne (Jessica Fox) and Mandy teases that Oliver likes Brooke. Brooke then responds that Oliver is gay, as they have misinterpreted what they saw between Buster and Oliver, with Brooke unaware that Buster is actually grooming Oliver. Oliver then shouts at Brooke causing them to have a breakdown after Oliver leaves. When he returns home, Mandy tries to get Oliver to open up to her but before he can say anything, they are interrupted by a drunken Luke. Oliver starts berating his father and stepmother before storming out of the house upset. Oliver then talks to Buster alone in the football academy changing rooms as he didn't know who else to turn to. Buster then manipulates the vulnerable teen by saying to Oliver that he can make him a star footballer with Buster's coaching skills as long as he does everything that he's told. He then places his hand on Oliver's knee inappropriately once again. He then asks Oliver if he understands or not. Oliver then tells him that he does understand before Buster shuts the door behind them to continue his abuse of Oliver. Buster gives Oliver a mobile phone and tells Oliver to text him at any time about anything. Buster then tells him not to tell anyone else about it and Oliver agrees.