Hollyoaks or Hollywood (Hollyoaks)

Member Name: adam171275

Product:	Hollyoaks
Date:	06/05/09 (326 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good characters and good viewing

Disadvantages: shows casual sex, abit unrealistic at times

Hollyoaks was first broadcast on channel four on the 23rd of October 1995 originally from the creator of Brookside and Grange Hill, Phil Redmond. It is set in a fictional town in Chester called Hollyoaks and centres around the lives of people who live there. Since it started we have seen many characters come and go both good and bad. Here are my views on the programme.


Before I start I will have to admit that I do always watch it, although I am 31, I really think it keeps me in touch with my youth! Those who watch it will know that most of the characters in Hollyoaks are young with a few exceptions. With this in mind you might say that it is generally aimed at younger viewers, but who cares! If I think back in my defence it did start in 1995 when I was a tender age of 18 and this is my excuse.


Hollyoaks is on channel four every evening at 630pm from Monday to Friday, and the great news is for fans is that you can get a view of the next episode on E4 afterwards at 7pm so if you cannot wait (like myself) you can watch a whole hours worth. There is also an omnibus episode on Saturday on E4, and one on channel four on Sunday morning so if you want to save a weeks worth or miss it in the evenings the world is your oyster!


I won't go into all the characters and bore you stupid but will give a brief outline of some of my all time favourites.


The classic character of the whole show is Tony Hutchinson who is played by Nick Pickard. He is known as a bit of a work obsessed local entrepreneur who owns Ill nosh who is a little tight, but there is a different side to him. Tony has been in it from the beginning and has many different relationships. The most known are with Mandy played by Sarah Dunn and Jackie played by Claire cooper. He was married to both, these characters and chalk and cheese is the word that springs to mind. Mandy is very sophisticated and career minded where Jackie is an ex con who in the nicest possible way is a bit of a chav. I think the two differences in wife's shows the versatility of Tony's character in the fact he can attract and gel with the both types. He has had to cope with the loss of his daughter with Mandy from cot death and the fact that his 2nd wife Jackie is unable to have children. So as you can see it is from both extremes. Tony's character is a bit of a dark horse and not quite so innocent, boring and correct he is made to be. He has a child from a previous relationship in which he didn't know about. He slept with Jackie's sister Mercedes (in which she got pregnant and had an abortion). To top it off he slept with Jackie's cousin Theresa who it turned out was only 15! So as you can see there is more to Tony than meets the eye, he does certainly get himself into tricky situations. All in all a good character in my eyes, who is consistent and has had some great storylines.


This isn't a character but the McQueen family! These are the chaviset family ever. All women except for John Paul who is gay (are you surprised). It is headed by Myra who has had a string of fathers for her children; in fact I don't think any have the same. All the siblings are certainly entertaining, there is Jackie who i've just talked about, to add all I can say is strong minded and shut up! Mercedes who is to put it politely a bit of a bike and on her 2nd marriage to someone who has HIV. Carmel married to the local copper Calvin and is to be honest a bit of an airhead. Tina who died was the only sane one who was in to her literature so a bit of an outcast really. Michaela whom is the youngest and a bit outspoken and mad! Last is the only son John Paul who turned out to be gay and left, to be honest who could blame him! Myra did have another son who she had young and was adopted out called Niall. He returned to find her and tried to kill them all, only Tina was killed and Niall went on the run. This was a very good story which involved the McQueen's, believe me they have had more ups and downs than most. If I am frank some a bit OTT. This storyline was good until he held them hostage in a church and tried to blow them all up, come on we are in hollyoaks not Hollywood. There in my opinion is a fine line between believable and not believable, this is border line. On a whole the McQueen's in my opinion are one of the best characters to bless the show, keep it top viewing, so if you are listening channel four, don't kill anymore off.


Another favourite of mine was Claire Cunningham played by Gemma Bissix. She was the most sly and evil character ever. When she was in it I actually wanted to slap the T.V a few times. She married Max to screw him of all the money he had and actually tried to kill him. Unfortunately max did get killed off when he was run over by Niall (come on keep up). This was a very gripping storyline which actually made you feel sorry for Max and want her to get her comeuppance. This in my opinion is great viewing if it makes you gripped to your seat, then it has done its job!


I won't bore you with all the other characters as there is far too many but the above are my favourite. Alongside good characters there has been some cracking stories, Hollyoaks have really tried to cover it all. Here are some of the issues the have covered:

Child abuse
Drug addiction
Mental health issues
Murder
HIV
Teenage pregnancy
Homosexuality
Infidelity
Abortion
Racism
Surrogacy
Cot death
Eating disorders
I can just about say everything! Some done well, and some not so well. I feel with the issue of HIV they didn't really show the true dangers of it and how widely it can be spread. Malachi who is married to Mercedes has HIV and may have passed it on to her. With this he knew, and carried on sleeping with her, I felt that they didn't promote safe sex and till this day have not revealed if Mercedes has actually contracted it. This doesn't in my view show, and prove how easy it is to pass it on and they have almost undermined the seriousness of this disease.

I think they did the storyline of drug addiction well. Sasha who's the sister of Calvin the local bobby got involved in drugs and eventually progressed to Heroin. Sasha was a bright girl who did well at school so it showed you what can go wrong and it does affect the middle of the road people and to put it more bluntly younger people. It showed the lies and deceit which drugs can involve and the lengths drug addicts will do to get a hit including theft and sleeping with someone for money. It didn't glamorise it at all which I was glad to see. It would show them having a good time on drugs then show the aftermath of them feeling wretched and throwing up. If they didn't show the later I would have been disappointed especially as it is aimed at younger viewers.


To finish this review I want to add the points that bug me about the programme, these are as follows:

Everyone is good looking
Now come on let's face reality, go and walk down your street and count how many good looking people you meet. I can have a guess that there will not be as many as there is in Hollyoaks. They all always look perfectly groomed, like they are going out on a night out! Even the geek in the show is good looking. All I can say to Hollyoaks is I know we like looking at fit looking people but get in the real world and add some normal looking people it will make us feel better.


No one works or goes to school/college
All the characters are either in the SU bar, the loft or in the Dog, come on get to work or school, show us what it's like in the real world. You all make it look far too easy when we all know it's not.

Everyone sleeps with everyone
Know I really feel they flaw on this as they do show, and in my opinion encourage casual sex. They all sleep with different people each week, whether it is a woman or man. There are straight, homosexual and bisexual encounters shown, it really doesn't matter. You know if you see one sexual encounter one episode it will be another next. I really feel they need to show a bit more responsibility they make it seem so easy and safe to do when it is not. Or is it the fact hat I am showing my age!


All in all a great show to watch which has up to date stories, good characters and will keep you in touch with your youth!

Summary: great show to watch, aimed at the young but will keep you in touch with your youth