Shaq gets a surprise visitor and James is blackmailed by Donna-Marie.
Felix Westwood (Richard Blackwood) is floored to learn childhood sweetheart Martine Deveraux (Kelle Bryan) has cancer and rushes to be with her, but does that mean his romance with Grace Black (Tamara Wall) is over?
The Maaliks are rocked by revelations when Shaq Qureishi (Omar Malik) receives a surprise visitor, James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan) is blackmailed by Donna-Marie Quinn (Lucy-Jo Hudson), and can Liberty Savage (Jessamy Stoddart) escape the clutches of Summer Ranger (Rhiannon Clements)?
Here are all your Hollyoaks spoilers for 12th – 16th July 2021.
Martine secret night with Felix
!["hollyoaks]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/06/HO-TRAILER-MARTINE-e5dd695.jpg?quality=90&crop=149px%2C0px%2C1621px%2C1080px&resize=620%2C413" "\"HO")
Martine puts bravery above her wellbeing and pushes herself to carry on as normal, despite chemotherapy for her cancer starting to take a physical toll. Struggling to conceal the side effects, including sudden hair loss, she refuses to take time off work but finally lets her guard down when old flame Felix discovers the diagnosis she’s been keeping from him.
Abandoning girlfriend Grace to rush to his ex’s side, Felix provides a shoulder to cry on as emotional Martine opens up about her cancer. Helping to shave her head and confront her fears, Felix spends a purely platonic night with Martine in her hour of need. Even though there’s no funny business, Mr Westwood lies to Grace about why he didn’t come home. This sounds like a slippery slope.
Shaq reveals all
!["hollyoaks]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/05/HO-TRAILER-SHAQ-110f76a.jpg?quality=90&crop=38px%2C0px%2C1621px%2C1080px&resize=620%2C413" "\"HO")
Irritated by his chaotic cousin’s continued – and unwanted – presence, Sami Maalik (Rishi Nair) secretly summons Shaq’s mum Hasina to the village to take her wayward son home. This opens a whole can of worms when Misbah Maalik (Harvey Virdi) rows with her sister about her nephew’s behaviour, and Shaq reveals his suspicions that his late uncle Kashif was his real dad.
The Maaliks reel at the claims which pokes at a dark chapter of their past, and Verity Hutchinson (Eva O’Hara) admits to Sami she helped Shaq do a sneaky DNA test to prove him and his cousin are actually siblings. The results arrive but the situation turns out to be more complicated than anyone realised, leaving Sami in an impossible situation as he makes a shocking discovery…
Liberty tries to escape from Summer
!["hollyoaks]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/06/hollyoaks-liberty-hostage-13e051d.png?quality=90&crop=50px%2C0px%2C2060px%2C1372px&resize=620%2C413" "\"hollyoaks")
Hollyoaks loves a secret hostage storyline, and always manages to find outlandish locations for the incarcerated character in question to be locked up where no one will think to look for them. We’ve had Tony in a pig farm, Kim in the attic, Dodger handcuffed to a radiator – now Liberty is in a larder full of baking ingredients.
Summer needs to keep her quarry hidden, and ensure everyone thinks she’s done a runner, until she marries Brody Hudson (Adam Woodward) and carries out whatever despicable plan she has to destroy the oblivious groom-to-be. Resourceful Lib gets her hands on a pair of tweezers and plots to pick the lock so she can escape, but sinister Summer is always one step ahead. Can her captive outsmart her and expose her vicious vendetta to the village?
Donna-Marie blackmails James
!["hollyoaks]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/06/5632-Donna-Marie-bf83a0b.jpg?quality=90&crop=65px%2C0px%2C1081px%2C720px&resize=620%2C413" "\"5632")
Juliet Nightingale (Niamh Blackshaw) has (understandably) taken out a restraining order against her ghastly mother, Donna-Marie, but the gobby ex-sex worker and recovering drug addict is determined to make amends with her daughter and prove she’s changed. She gets the chance when she overhears a clandestine conversation…
While James discusses his illicit kiss with John Paul McQueen (James Sutton), he doesn’t realise Donna-Marie is listening in – until she confronts the lawyer later on, and demands he persuade Juliet to drop the injunction or she’ll tell his boyfriend Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) he’s been cheating with his former lover. Backed into a corner, James must decide where his loyalties lie…
Elsewhere on Hollyoaks
!["hollyoaks]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/06/HO-TRAILER-CELESTE-1192b8b.jpg?quality=90&crop=73px%2C0px%2C1621px%2C1080px&resize=620%2C413" "\"HO")
- Celeste Faroe (Andrea Ali) has a crisis of confidence about retraining for a career in the law (what did she do for money before? How did she afford those gorgeous clothes?! Let’s not get into that) and is too scared to even fill in the application form for a paralegal job. Meddling, well-meaning mum Martine does it for her, leading to Celeste getting an interview. Will she join James and Sami to be Hollyoaks’ next legal eagle?
- Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins) has got fingers in that many pies he’s going to need more fingers. Or more pies. Or both. The community-minded entrepreneur has just launched his successful snack kiosk in the park, and this week unveils plans for an elaborate fund-raiser: an interactive, immersive game called ‘Assassins’ to take place in the village during the summer. It’s like ‘tag’ and paintball with higher stakes. If it’s as entertaining as Tom’s Turtles kids’ holiday club comedy plot from a few years ago, we’re in for a treat.