List of Hollyoaks characters introduced in 2003
The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks in 2003, in order of first appearance.
Nathan Rogers
Nathan Rogers, played by Jay Thomas, was the boyfriend of Nick O'Connor. Nick and Nathan met whilst Nathan was working at II Gnosh and they started dating. Nick later revealed to Nathan that his parents didn't know that he was gay, so Nathan encouraged Nick to tell his parents, agreeing to go with him. However, Nick's father reacted badly to Nick's revelation and threw Nick and Nathan out. Nathan booked a holiday for himself and Nick, but Nick's mother phoned him, informing Nick that his father had suffered a heart attack. Nick's father asked him to stay and look after the farm, so Nathan asked Nick to choose between him and his parents. Nick chose to help his father with the farm so Nathan dumped Nick and left.Dale Jackson
Dale Jackson is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Laila Rouass. She appeared throughout 2003. Upon Rouass's casting the Liverpool Echo said "if tv bosses are looking for a replacement for Cilla - Hollyoaks newest recruit may be the answer" and described her as a "new soap siren". She was also described as "feisty" and her entrances was said to "ruffle a few feathers". Dale has also been described as having a "no-nonsense attitude".Rouass commented on the casting saying "Dale is a real go-getter, very independent and career-minded she doesn't take any nonsense. I've really settled into the `family' now. It's certainly been a change from my past experience, but Dale is a really strong character and the role has certainly given me something to get my teeth into". Rouass started filming in December 2002. The character has also been described as "mysterious". Rouass beat seventy other auditionees for the part which she said "was unbelievable" and added that she didn't "know how I got it". Rouass also added that she was "loving every minute of it".
Dale Jackson arrives in Hollyoaks village to investigate series of murders. Colleague Will Davies allows Dale to move in with him and his son, Ben and daughter Abby. Abby begins to see Dale as a mother figure but Ben is dubious about him living together. She sleeps with Ben and is caught by Will. Ben tries to apologise; however, Will insists that it really never bothered him and makes it clear to Ben that he is free to do anything he wanted. Dale tells Will she has feelings for him and the pair begin to date, despite Ben's warnings. Ben was furious at his father's actions and accuses Dale of using him, leading Will to throw Ben out of his own house. Eventually, Will and Ben make up, but Dale leaves after being sacked by the commissioner.
The Daily Mirror commented positively on Rouass's performance saying it was "sizzling" and had "set the screen alight". The Liverpool Echo commented positively on her "will they, won't they" storyline with Will labelling it a "far more pressing puzzle to be solved" than the serial killer storyline.
Roxy Maguire
Roxanne "Roxy" Maguire, played by Harriet Green, appeared in 2003. She started dating O.B. in February 2003, after they met online. After sleeping with Dan Hunter, Roxy went to the River Dee where she was beaten to death with a spanner by Dan's friend Toby Mills. Dan was accused of Roxy's murder as they had slept together a few hours earlier, but a guilty Toby provided Dan with a solicitor who pointed out there was not enough evidence to charge Dan with Roxy's murder and he was subsequently released. Toby was never caught, but was revealed to be Roxy's murderer shortly before his death in November 2003.Linda Mills
Linda Mills, played by Wendy Roe, is the mother of Toby Mills. Linda arrived in Hollyoaks and interfered in Toby's relationship with Ellie Hunter by attempting to split them up. Toby ended up choosing Ellie over her. She returned later after watching The Fish Tank, and tried to convince Toby to leave Ellie as she was cheating on him. She witnessed Toby beat Steph Dean unconscious with a spanner and followed him home to confront him. Toby shoved her, inadvertently causing her to fall down the stairs. Ellie arrived home to find Linda lying at the bottom of the stairs, called an ambulance and helped with the cover-up. However, Linda died not long after arriving at the hospital. A year later in June 2004, Ellie's brother Lee Hunter discovered the body of another one of Toby's victims inside Linda's garage.Natalie Osborne
Emma Chambers
Emma Chambers, played by Georgina Redhead, appeared between 2003 and 2004. Emma arrived in Hollyoaks as a replacement to Dale Jackson and to help Will Davies with the serial killings in Hollyoaks.Emma is seduced by fireman Ben Davies when the pair meet at The Loft. Her one-night stand with Ben is to prove costly as she discovers that she is pregnant and confronts Ben with the truth. However, Ben is engaged to Izzy Cornwell and refuses to stand by Emma’s unborn child. Emma manages to keep the identity of her child's father a secret until a blast from Emma’s past returns; Will’s ex-wife and Ben’s mother, Alison Davies, who reveals the truth between Emma and the Davies.
It is revealed that long before her arrival, Emma had an affair with Will, which is the reason Will’s marriage to Alison broke down. Soon, Ben discovers the truth about Emma’s past and the link with his father. Ben’s fiancée Izzy also discovers on her wedding day that Ben is the father of Emma’s unborn child. Emma wants to have a future with Ben, but he marries Izzy anyway. Shortly after, Emma gives birth to a son, who she calls Arthur Stanley Davies. Ben then changes his mind and decides that he does want to be part of his son’s life. However, this change of heart does not last long, as at Arthur's christening, Alison tries to obliterate Emma from Arthur's baptism pictures by requesting Emma to take all of the pictures so that Emma herself will not be featured in any of them; each time Emma takes a picture, Alison taunts her by continually proclaiming "let's have another picture of baby and father". When Will asks Alison if Emma will be featured in any of the pictures, Alison arrogantly replies: "as long as I have any say in the matter, no!". Alison continues with this, ignoring Will's warning that her behaviour makes her no better than Emma and that she risks Arthur resenting her in the future. Unbeknown to Alison, however, Emma was moving the camera towards the floor each time she took the pictures, so that none of the Davies family or Arthur himself were featured either; this incident brings Emma's feud with Alison to a head, as at the party after the baptism service when Emma admits to Alison that she had sabotaged the photographs, the two get into a vicious brawl, and have to be separated by Johnno Dean and Les Hunter.
Eventually, Ben’s marriage to Izzy breaks down as Izzy cannot cope with Ben having so much to do with Arthur, and this subsequently results in Ben wanting nothing to do with Arthur, as he blames Arthur for causing his marriage to Izzy to collapse. Emma then decides it is best to move away and start over. In October 2004, Emma leaves Ben and Hollyoaks behind her, taking Arthur with her. They briefly returned six months later in the late night special Hollyoaks: Let Loose when Ben decides to file for full custody of Arthur after a chance meeting leads to Ben spending time with Arthur, and he decides the time had come to heal the rift with his son. However, Ben's then-girlfriend Lisa Hunter does not want to be a mother figure to Arthur and pressures Ben into sending Emma and Arthur away again; Ben decides that after losing Izzy he cannot risk losing Lisa as well because of Arthur, and he asks Emma and Arthur to leave, although he agreed to stay in touch with Arthur this time.
Joe Spencer
Joe Spencer, played by Matt Milburn, debuted on-screen during episodes airing on 23 September 2003 as a new student. He left on 8 September 2006 after his character was axed by Bryan Kirkwood. For her portrayal of Joe, Milburn was nominated for "Best Newcomer" at the 2004 Inside Soap Awards.Joe arrives as a young fresher in Hollyoaks studying fashion and got himself in a bit of a bother with roommate Robbie Flynn, after the pair had a falling out over room sharing. Joe certainly had his share of attention and was fleetingly labelled as gay. This brought a few admirers like Nick O'Connor, after he too thought Joe was gay. But to prove he was not gay, Joe began dating Jodie Nash after the pair met on a dating spree contest. However it wasn't too last for too long as Joe moved on to his next relationship, this time with Sophie Burton. The pair seemed like love's young dream couple, but Joe felt the strain after he thought Sophie became too pushy in the relationship after introducing Joe to her mother Liz Burton. Soon after, Sophie ended the relationship with Joe after learning that he was going to dump her. Joe soon built up a good friendship relations with Dannii Carbone, Russ Owen and Jeremy Peterson. He also revealed that he had a rocky relationship with his alcoholic father, a police officer, who was abusive towards Joe's mother. He was also smitten with ice-queen Louise Summers, despite the fact she has shown no interest in him.
Despite being a cheeky chap, Joe's confidence was to take a huge blow after he was beaten up by a bunch of teenage school girls. With the support of Russ and Danni, Joe was able to recover from his trauma. Joe began to concentrate on his fashion degree, however things got from bad to worse for Joe. He managed to run up in massive debts after his dealing for supplying jackets collapsed. Joe became desperate and took out a credit card in best mate Jeremy's name. Jez was oblivious to this and also bought him a laptop after Joe claimed his was stolen. Although he and Dannii were forced to leave the student flat they shared with Zara Morgan and Jez to make room for Jessica Harris and Olivia Johnson, it appeared that he moved back into the flat after Zara Mark Jury moved out.
Meanwhile, Joe's debt deepened and soon it resulted in loan sharks chasing Joe, which led to Joe faking his own death in order to get he's loan sharks off his back. The whole debt saga cost Joe dearly as he was unable to take his exams as the college records had him down as "deceased" and had to resit his final year. Before college restarted in September 2006 he found out he, Olivia, and Jessica had to move out to make room for new students. Joe recognised the name of one of the students as Zoe Carpenter, a girl he used to date in high school, but he dumped her because she was fat but realised that it was his big mistake and tried to convince her to take him back.
Joe tried to stay in the flat with Jessica and Olivia by telling the new students that they were their live-in student mentors, but the students saw through their plans. Joe tried to bribe the students with drinks but with no success. Joe made it up to Zoe by telling her he regretted dumping her in high school and then they went to The Dog in The Pond together with Kris Fisher, Jessica, and Olivia. That night escaped rapist Sam Owen burst into the pub and set it on fire. Joe had theorised that the only safe way out would be through the basement. After successfully getting Kris and Zoe out, he went back for Olivia, who had been pinned under a beam just behind the bar. Before Joe left he told Zoe that he already lost her once, and he wasn't going to again. Upon finding Olivia, Joe freed her, but the bottles of alcohol behind the bar exploded, killing both of them. Zoe tried to ring Joe's phone and heard his ring tone; she and Kris followed it, with Kris remarking that "People like Joe are born lucky". Seconds later, they found it coming from a group of body bags. Joe died a hero, trying to save Olivia.
When Gordon Cunningham and Helen Cunningham were killed off in a car crash storyline, Lucy Lather from Inside Soap stated that "while they were at it" producers should have also killed off "vain Joe".