List of Hollyoaks characters introduced in 2017
Hollyoaks is a British television soap opera that was first broadcast on 23 October 1995. The following is a list of characters that appeared or will appear in the serial in 2017, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by executive producer, Bryan Kirkwood. The first character to be introduced was [|Lily Drinkwell], the niece of Diane Hutchinson. Shane Sweeney, the father of Prince McQueen and Hunter McQueen, was also introduced in January, while [|Darcy Wilde], the former fiancée of Adam Donovan, and Lynette Drinkwell, the adoptive mother of Scott Drinkwell and sister of Diane, were introduced in March. Four characters were introduced in April: Yasmine Maalik, a new teenage character who befriended Peri Lomax ; Toby Wilde, the secret son of Darcy and Adam; [|Kyle Kelly], the former boyfriend of Nancy Osborne ; and [|Maggie] Kinsella, Scott's biological mother. Yasmine's mother, [|Misbah] Maalik, debuted in May. Yasmine's sister, [|Farrah Maalik], and Milo Entwistle were introduced in June. Granny Campbell, Damon Kinsella and Brody Hudson made their first appearances in July. Glenn Donovan made his debut the following month, while September saw the arrivals of [|Imran] Maalik and [|Sami] Maalik.
Lily Drinkwell
Lily McQueen, played by Lauren McQueen, made her first appearance on 6 January 2017. The character was announced on 12 December 2016, with further details including McQueen's casting announced on 22 December. Of securing the role, McQueen told Laura Morgan of All About Soap that she met with executive producer Bryan Kirkwood in June 2016 and took part in a reading with one of the cast members. Later that day, her agent rang her to say that she had been offered the role of Lily. She added, "It's brilliant because I live about 15 minutes away from the set. It's the perfect job for me, really."Shane Sweeney
Shane Sweeney, played by Lanre Malaolu, made his first appearance on 30 January 2017. The character and casting was announced on 9 January 2017. Shane is Prince and Hunter McQueen's father, as well as Goldie McQueen's former partner. Shane comes to the village after being released from jail, and wants to reconcile with Goldie. Malaolu described Shane as a "wheeler-dealer" and "driven by money". He also said that Shane only "loves his family when it suits him." Prince and Hunter will be divided upon their father's return, with Prince welcoming him back, whereas Hunter is more wary and thinks that Shane is potentially scamming the family. Following a decision from Hollyoaks bosses, Shane was promoted to a regular character, but as Malaolu was unavailable, the role was recast to Michael Salami. Salami made his first appearance in the role on 9 May 2017. It was confirmed on 29 March 2018 that Salami would be departing the series, with his final scenes airing in the following day's episode.Shane revealed to Joel Dexter that he knew about the drugs which Joel supplied to his aunt, Katy. After blackmailing Joel for a few weeks, Warren Fox became suspicious of Shane. Later, Shane and Sienna Blake faked a kidnapping in an attempt to hurt Warren. After the plan backfired, Shane fled Hollyoaks, once again leaving Goldie, Prince and Hunter behind. Shane held Joel and Cleo McQueen hostage at a beach. Darren Osborne came to the rescue and Joel and Shane had a fight, with the two warring men falling down a sand dune. Joel survived, but Shane went missing, presumed dead. It is later revealed that Shane had a gun in September, after it was unearthed on the beach by Kathy Barnes.
In October 2018, Glenn Donovan is murdered by Goldie's mother Breda McQueen and tells the police how he was bullied into confessing to two murders he did not commit, he was later released from prison after making a statement, off-screen. In August 2019, it was revealed that Shane is living with Prince and Hunter and he forgave them for turning their back on him after he told them how he was framed and coerced by Adam and Glenn into admitting two murders he didn't commit
Carmina McQueen
Carmina Celeste McQueen, portrayed by Harlow Jones, is the daughter of Myra McQueen and Diego Salvador Martinez Hernandez De La Cruz. She is born on-screen in episode 4583, originally broadcast on 15 February 2017. The character departed on 27 March 2019 to tie in with Myra's exit from the serial.Myra names her Carmina Celeste in memory of her deceased half-sisters Carmel McQueen and Tina Reilly and cousin Celine McQueen. Following her parents' separation, Sally St. Claire agrees to co-parent Carmina with Myra, but Myra's daughter, Mercedes McQueen, intervenes and reunites Myra and Diego.
Darcy Wilde
Darcy Wilde, played by Aisling Jarrett-Gavin, made her first appearance on 13 March 2017. The character was first mentioned on-screen in November 2016, while Jarrett-Gavin's casting was announced on 3 January 2017. Darcy is Adam Donovan's ex-fiancée and was presumed dead after she vanished from a boat trip to France. Ahead of her arrival in the village, Adam learns that his brother Liam "is harbouring a huge secret about her." His other brother Jesse was infatuated with her, while their mother Tracey Donovan and half-sister Grace Black are also hiding a secret about Darcy.Lynette Drinkwell
Lynette Drinkwell, played by Amy Robbins, made her first appearance on 22 March 2017. The character had been alluded to before, but never seen. Her introduction was reported in the 11–24 March 2017 edition of Soaplife. Robbins' casting was announced on 12 March. Lynette is Scott Drinkwell's adoptive mother, and Diane Hutchinson's sister. Lynette will come to the village to support Scott following John Paul McQueen's departure, however she will become worried after Scott drinks "one too many". Jack Tomlin of Digital Spy added that Lynette is also in possession of some "life-changing news..." Ross Adams, who plays Scott, said that Lynette "is a larger-than-life character – she's quite brash and feisty, and confident. I think Scott has modelled himself on her a little bit."Lynette first appears to comfort Scott following the departure of John Paul, who Scott held affections for. When Scott accuses Diane of having an affair with his father, Lynette reveals that while married to her, Scott's father had an affair with another woman who is Scott's biological mother. Scott is devastated and disappears so Lynette decides to return home. As she prepares to leave, Scott returns and explains that he is not upset as Lynette will always be his "real mother". A few weeks later, Scott meets with Lynette to find out more information about his adoption and she gives him a letter from his biological mother. Scott soon realises that Lynette wrote the letter and he asks her to leave. Before she leaves, Lynette tells him that his biological mother's name is Maggie.
Yasmine Maalik
Yasmine Cunningham is played by Haiesha Mistry. She made her first on-screen appearance on 4 April 2017. The character's introduction was revealed in Soaplife published on 21 March, while Mistry's casting was announced on 24 March 2017. Yasmine is a pupil at Hollyoaks High, who comes into contact with Peri Lomax, after she posts messages about Peri's family troubles online. Peri seeks revenge on Yasmine, potentially sparking off a feud. Mistry has described her character as "loud and flamboyant", and that she "swaggers through school acting like the coolest of the cool kids – but it's all just bravado."Mistry left Hollyoaks on 28 February 2024 in a storyline that saw Yasmine move to Canada for a job opportunity.
Yasmine first appears when she introduces herself to Peri and asks about her father, Cameron Campbell, who is a serial killer. Peri confides in Yasmine but she uses the information to publish an article on a school blog, leaving Peri upset. Peri summons Yasmine to the headteacher's office under false pretence and explains that she has read her information from her previous school and will publish it if Yasmine does not delete the article about her father. Yasmine does this and calls a truce with Peri. A fight between Peri and Yasmine breaks out after Peri breaks into Yasmine's locker and steals her earrings, but Neeta Kaur breaks it up.
Yasmine and Peri calls truce and they became friends. Yasmine gets involved into a car crash with her family when their car collided with Tony Hutchinson and his family. Yasmine and her brother, Imran, struggle to get out of the car, as it has seconds to explode. Their mother Misbah chooses to help Yasmine out, leaving Imran to get out alone. The car explodes and Yasmine and her family thought Imran was killed in the explosion. But Imran, however, manage to escape before the car exploded. Since the incident, Imran began to abuse Yasmine and Misbah.
When Lily Drinkwell arrives to the village, Yasmine and Peri began to bully her and made fun of her wearing casual clothing at the school dance. Yasmine slept with Lily's boyfriend Prince McQueen and Lily walks in on them. Yasmine later dates Alfie Nightingale, but they broke up after Alfie left the village. Yasmine was devastated when she learned that Lily dies. Yasmine and her family are target and harass by Ste Hay death. Yasmine and her family gets trapped into a racism incident, by Ste and the Far Right Group, led by Stuart Sumner and Jonny Baxter.
The Maaliks have been harassed for months by Ste and the Far Right Group, and during her brother, Sami's engagement party with Sinead Shelby, Yasmine is involved in an explosion at her home, leaving her deaf, using a voice app on her phone to talk to others. Yasmine and her family moves into Peri's house when her mother, Leela Lomax, offers them to stay. Weeks later, Yasmine and her family moves back to their home and Stuart tells them that they are no longer harassing them anymore. Yasmine later befriends Sinead's brother, Finn O'Connor, who a convicted rapist, who recently got out of prison after serving his time.
Yasmine tells Imran about Finn and Imran accepts her to hang out with Finn. Yasmine and Sami's brother Azim Desai organises Sami and Sinead's wedding and Finn learn that's Sinead isn't inviting him to her wedding. Yasmine tells him to respect Sinead's decision and Finn thanks her by touching her arm, which she freaked out and ran off. Finn apologises and Yasmine forgives him, agreeing to be his friend. When Sami learns about Yasmine and Finn's friendship from Edward Hutchinson, he catches them embracing and tells Finn to stay away from Yasmine. Yasmine tells Sami that Finn is her friend and wants him to be her plus one to the wedding, which Sami refuses and Yasmine threats not to go to the wedding, if Finn isn't allowed.
On the day of the wedding, Sami begs Yasmine to be there for him, as Misbah and their sister, Farrah isn't coming to the wedding and Yasmine changes her mind. After seeing Yasmine talking about Finn to his mother Sheeba Desai, Sami allows Yasmine to take Finn as her plus one to the wedding and Yasmine escorts Finn to the ceremony, but only to learn from Sami that Sinead isn't coming to the wedding, and she, along with their family comforts Sami. Yasmine helps Finn get a job and he was hired a job to deliver Christmas trees. But after his first day, Yasmine learns that he got fired. Yasmine learn that Edward is planning to get rid of Finn and forming an alliance with Sally St. Claire
Yasmine warns Finn about Edward's plans, but Finn refuses to believe her. Yasmine tries to tell Finn's mother, Diane, but Finn tells her to stay out of it. Yasmine watches as Finn makes an apology speech to the people of the village during Marnie Nightingale's patisserie grand-opening, which was a fail, and Yasmine runs after an embarrassed Finn. When Finn decided to leave the village, as no one will give him a second chance, Yasmine tells him not to go, as she has feelings for him and they share a kiss.
Finn tells her that it's hard for him if they start a relationship together. Yasmine tells Finn that she's been researching about Edward and shows Finn an old article about Edward getting arrested for murdering his wife. Yasmine and Finn continues searching about Edward's past and shows Diane about Edward's past, who angrily tells them to back off. Edward gives Yasmine a memory stick of an old article about Finn raping his former teacher, John Paul McQueen and was horrified. After some advice from Sami and Imran, Yasmine goes to see Finn, but only to see him, leaving the village.
On Christmas, Peri and Romeo Quinn sets Yasmine up on a date with Tom Cunningham and they share a kiss and became close.