Cleo McQueen (Nadine Mulkerrin) receives word that ex Joel Dexter (Rory Douglas-Speed) is set to be released in Hollyoaks next week, but will it lead to a return for her former flame?
Joel's Prison Sentence
Joel, as viewers will recall, first went to prison after he confessed to the murder of Tommy Odenkirk (Brandon Fellows). Tommy was the local therapist who was seeing various villagers including Leela Dexter (Kirsty-Leigh Porter) and Jez Blake (Jeremy Sheffield). It turned out, however, that he wasn’t actually a practising therapist and was secretly working in a chicken shop. He harboured an obsession with Joel and thus used his sessions with Leela to get close to him. Joel had assisted Tommy earlier in that year when he got into a brawl with Tommy’s actual brother Billy, which sparked the alleged therapist’s desire to build a connection with him.
The situation escalated dramatically after Tommy leaked footage of Leela’s rape ordeal online, which prompted Joel to lose control one night – and upon waking up he believed that he’d murdered Tommy. Tommy, however, had been killed by serial killer Jez, who framed Joel for the crime. Joel was later cleared of the murder charges but had to remain in prison due to GBH charges brought against him and thus he decided to move to Scotland to serve out the rest of his sentence, with star Rory’s final scenes airing in October last year.
Cleo Receives News of Release
But next week, Cleo receives word that Joel is due to be released soon and he gets in touch with her, wanting to see baby Joseph. Dodger Savage (Danny Mac), who Cleo has been having an affair with, overhears the conversation and questions if it’s the right thing to do. Cleo heads to the Lomaxes to speak to Leela, hoping they’re on the same page about Joel.
Leela Targeted
Leela, however, later finds a letter signed ‘J’ and believes it to be from Joel, hoping this means he wants to meet up. She therefore heads to the meeting spot – but is instead targeted by masked strangers, who are all aiming paintball guns at her. Will this all lead to a return for Joel?
Hollyoaks streams Mondays to Wednesdays from 6am on Channel 4’s streaming platform, or catch episodes on TV at 7pm on E4.
