Nancy Hayton
Encyclopedia
Nancy Anne Hayton is a fictional character
from the British Channel 4
soap opera
Hollyoaks
, played by Jessica Fox
. The character first appeared on 6 July 2005. Since the character's inception she has been involved in many notable storylines such as a three-way open relationship, drug taking, domestic abuse and rape storyline. In the character's early stages, she was portrayed as a less conventional character compared to the rest of the Hollyoaks teenagers.
, who came for a visit, initially only intended to feature in three episodes. After producers realised her potential, she was introduced as a main characters. On screen this played out seeing her later persuading her parents to let her stay in the village and live with Becca and her fiancé Jake Dean
permanently. Unlike her sister, Nancy isn't afraid to have her opinion known, and warned brother-in-law Jake Dean
not to mess Becca around or he would have her to deal with. Early friendships included Nicole Owen
, Hannah Ashworth
and Sarah Barnes
.
secured the role. She was initially contracted for three episodes. On Fox's second day of filming, she was handed more scripts and asked to stay on longer and then again. Since that point she has remained with the show.
Although Nancy was different from the other Hollyoaks teenagers, there was an area of society the character wanted to be included in. The hippy scene that one time boyfriend Foz was from displayed all the tendencies Nancy aspired to gain. Fox spoke about this during an interview saying: "I think Nancy's character is very strong, she's opinionated, but if you take all that away she's still very young particularly then, at the time of the drug storyline she was 16 she still wanted desperately to fit in even though she told everyone she didn't. At that particular party she was at she was surrounded by all these people who were traveling, really into their music, they had the life style that Nancy wanted, and she just desperately wanted to fit in at the end of the day, and that's what happens she took LSD and it went horribly wrong.
In 2009 after the her character had gone through certain transformations, the actress spoke about these changes. Fox also revealed what separated her character apart from certain others in terms of what impact storylines have had on them: "I've been spoilt with the dramatic storylines and now they've given me some good comedic stuff. Nancy's gone full circle and she's had the chance to become a whole character, rather than just one who has no end of tragedy and no end of silly affairs." She also said that since her character has been through so much up until 2009 that her character no longer feels the need to desperately shock everyone because she has had to grow up and evolve.
. Whilst her relationship was onscreen, the character also became involved in a drugs storyline. Jessica Fox revealed how her character's longing to fit in with people like Foz who were different from the rest of society, ended up in her taking drugs to be different from others but the same as the hippy scene.
During Nancy's relationship with Jake
during the domestic abuse storyline Nancy's character was rapidly transformed. She went from out-spoken and self-sufficient into being needy and controlled. Actress Jessica Fox once stated in an interview that she and the production team were careful not to the character transform 'over night', stating: "We've tried really hard to make sure that Nancy didn't just snap back into her old self after the whole Jake incident last year. There's always a bit of darkness with her. That's something that really annoys me in soap, when something really dramatic happens to a character and they forget about it a couple of weeks later.", although the official Hollyoaks website described the character as vibrant and eccentric once more since her husband's detainment in the psychiatric hospital. After her relationships with Ravi and Kris played out onscreen, Fox said she felt it was out of character for Nancy to cheat on anyone., and that she felt her character felt so uncomfortable with her three-way relationship because she no longer wanted a shock element in her relationships and wanted a conventional relationship. Fox also said that the character of Russ Owen
was her perfect match. Russ and Nancy later began the relationship although it didn't last long. Nancy is currently engaged to Darren Osbourne, but things have become complicated with Suzanne Ashworth
and her two young babies, fathered by Darren, moved into her flat.
] and Nancy, and I was pleased because I always thought Nancy and Kris would go well together. Then he went on to say that she'd be involved with Ravi at the same time. I was quite shocked to be honest! Nancy's never cheated on anyone in her life because that's not who she is. But Bryan said to me 'we're going to have a lot of fun with this and I want it to be like a Carry On with loads of door-shutting and times when you don't know who's going to get caught'. So that's what we went for in the end." She also revealed that Hollyoak's time slot resricted the characters having a threesome so the open three way relationship was introduced in its place.
Onscreen it began to play out when a bomb scare in the Loft, Ravi Roy
saved Nancy and they then began their relationship. She then started seeing Kris. Ravi and Kris slept together and began an affair. Kris began playing them off against each other. In March 2009 Russ revealed to Nancy that Ravi had made a pass at him. When she went to confront him, she found him and Kris together in the Loft. It subsequently came out that Nancy had been seeing Kris too. Rather than split up, they decided to try having an open threeway relationship. Nancy ended this, and Kris broke up with Ravi to be with her, but she turned him down. However, Nancy then cheated on Russ with Kris, and she and Kris began a relationship later that year, which ended on Valentine's Day 2010.
that ran whilst they were babysitting Mandy Hutchinson and Tony Hutchinson
's child. Alongside Hannah Ashworth
they discovered Grace dead and blamed themselves whilst not knowing her real cause of death.
Later storylines that Nancy was inolved had direct links with her onscreen sister Becca
. The first being dealing with the fall out of his sister's affair with a school pupil whilst trying to keep her own relationship with Foz together, then the subsequent death of her sister, being left looking after nephew Charlie, taking her A-level examinations along side a small storyline which saw her constantly taking prescription medication to keep her awake. Nancy then trained to be a teacher like her sister. Nancy then abused party drugs.
The beginning of a long-running storyline surfaced onscreen when Nancy and Jake entered a secret relationship. It was to become the start of a domestic abuse storyline that producer Bryan Kirkwood decided to run. The storyline also received acclaim for helping educate under-25s about the issues of abusive relationships and for portraying it on their national platform. Onscreen their relationship later became public knowledge amongst the characters. The plot began to take shape when Jake began attempting to control Nancy, most clearly when he locked her in the house, so she missed her exams. A week later Jake decided to dump Nancy without any real reason but later reconciled. At Charlie's naming ceremony Jake proposed to Nancy, who accepted. Jake later started deceiving Nancy about the whereabouts of her engagement ring.
The storyline later began to seemingly mirror her onscreen sister's previous storyline in which she had an affair with a pupil. When Nancy started tutoring Newt, Jake became convinced that Nancy would cheat on him with the youngster because of Becca's infidelity with a student. He made failed attempts to keep them apart. Realising he was unable to control Nancy, Jake then reported Nancy to the police with allegations that she was having an affair with Barry Newton; she was arrested and sacked from her teaching job. Jake later became paranoid that Nancy wasn't taking the allegations seriously, so he launched a verbal attack on her, branding her 'pathetic'. She cried and started blaming herself; Jake then turned the situation around and comforted her.
Nancy was later cleared of the charges and Jake began to drive a wedge between her and her friends. Jake began deleting messages from friends and Nancy later finds out and goes out with Hannah Ashworth
and Sarah Barnes
so they don't think they are being ignored. Hannah and Sarah tell Nancy what they think of Jake and his treatment towards her. Nancy then denies all and ostracises herself from them. Jake later put her phone into water so that she wouldn't be able to make up with them. She then needs her phone when Charlie falls ill; without the phone to call for an ambulance she ran into the middle of the street for help. Jake then blames Nancy for Charlie's condition. The storyline then branched and became more complex when the character of baby Charlie is diagnosed with leukaemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. This provided storyliners with a chance to release the true paternity of Charlie which had remained a secret from the surrounding characters. Onscreen Nancy discovers that Jake is not Charlie's biological father.
She then reluctantly agreed to a rushed wedding in a hospital chapel. Jake controlled all the arrangements, buying a wedding dress to replace one Nancy chose. Nancy became hysterical when Hannah and Sarah tried to persuade her not to go ahead with the wedding, and forbade them to attend. She ended up allowing Jake to remove earrings he thinks unsuitable. The storyline then took another dramatic turn and after the poorly attended reception she is subdued and has to be coaxed to dance. She then returned to her flat to sleep, but Jake grabbed Nancy and violently chucked her on the kitchen sink and attempted to rape
her until Steph Dean walked in the flat. Nancy then regretted marrying Jake. After he launched a tirade of insults at her, she realised that it was Jake who lied to the police about Newt. Jake denied that he would have raped her and tearfully begged her to stay, but Nancy walked out on him.
The storyline later saw a number of plots playing out onscreen directly connected to the domestic abuse plot. The first one of these was a custody battle which saw Nancy unlikely enlist Justin Burton
to help her to gain custody of Charlie Dean. She then revealed to Frankie Osborne
and a pub full of people that Jake tried to rape her, with Steph Dean backing her up.
Hitting rock bottom Jake kidnapped Charlie and tried to kill him and himself by gassing his car. Nancy found them and saved Charlie but left Jake for dead. Jake came around minutes after and barged into Nancy's flat and violently attacked Nancy. Jake then tried to take Charlie but Nancy hit Jake over the head with a frying pan, knocking Jake unconscious. Later Jake was sectioned under the mental health act. Nancy then slept with Justin and kept it a secret thereafter.
Still missing Becca Nancy decided she wanted to be a student teacher. Nancy began seeing Ravi Roy
,however also started an affair with Kris Fisher
, who was also sleeping with Ravi.
After old friend Russ Owen
saved Nancy from student Gaz Bennett
who locked her in a classroom the two began a relationship. As feuding began between Russ and Jacqui McQueen, Nancy was asked by Russ to run away with him and his son Max McQueen and start a new life. Nancy gives him an ultimatum, her or the baby, subsequently choosing to stay with Nancy. Russ later revealed he felt Nancy was a consolation prize. Nancy sought comfort in sleeping with Kris. Russ caught them in bed together. Unable to forgive Nancy, Russ kidnapped Max and left with him and Justin Burton
.
In October 2009, already distraught after finding out the news of Sarah
's death, Nancy finds out that Jake is being released from the home were he is staying, and is far from happy.
Nancy went to see Jake she tells him she detests him and that she wants him to move far away he reveals he doesn't want to go either but has nowhere else to go.
When Nancy bumps into Jake in drive and buy he tells her Hannah sent him letters(which turned out to be Nancy's new friend Loretta Jones
. By this time Nancy had resumed her relationship with Kris who had threatened Jake on numerous occasions since his release.However Jakes return still puts strain on Nancy's and Kris's relationship she would constantly picked argument and he told her she should be more concerned of Zoe being in prison for Sarah's murder however he decided to support her when he saw how affected she was by Jake being back in her life. Nancy caught an accidental meeting between Jake and Charlie at MOBS resulting in her calling the police, Jake was arrested for breaking his bail terms but was released when it was explained the meeting was accidental. Nancy's complaint however was still kept on record as the police thought it was risky having Charlie live with Jake's mum. To avoid him being put in care, Frankie gave custody of Charlie to Nancy. Nancy and Kris finally split up for good although it is hinted that they still have feelings for each other.
Jake and Nancy finally make up when Jakes ex Loretta begins stalking him and Nancy is the only person to believe him.
Loretta takes Nancy hostage in a classroom and hitting over the head. Jake comes to Nancy's rescue and convinces Loretta to turn her self in. Nancy and Jake go with Loretta to get her self sectioned. Nancy finally admits she believes Jake has changed. The following week Jake leaves Hollyoaks for good.
Nancy realises she needs a change in career realising she only wanted to become a teacher for Becca. Nancy and her ex student Theresa McQueen
join Mitzeee Minniver
at a party, where Nancy plans to write a report on Mitzeee. She meets a footballer called Dean, who Mitzeee warns her of. However, Nancy takes no notice, and is almost gang raped by Dean and his friends, but is saved when Mitzeee tells Dean she is a reporter. Nancy is present in the delivery room whilts Theresa is in labour but ends up fainting, she wakes up next to Mitzeee and they bond.
Nancy comforts Darren Osborne
who she likes and wakes up with him in her bed twice. She frets when India Longford
doesn't return home after a date with Cameron, unaware that she has been murdered by a middle aged man who is the proclaimed Cameron, Silas Blissett
. When the police discovers a body that is identified as India's, Nancy gets very upset and comforts India's sister Texas Longford
who is deeply devastated.
She was then engaged to Darren but she dumped him after he moved in Suzanne Ashworth
and his twins.
After Suzanne and the twins went back to Spain, Darren got a job as Cindy Longford's chauffeur, but Nancy agreed to get back together with him if he quit the job.
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the British Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
, played by Jessica Fox
Jessica Fox
Jessica Fox is an English actress. She is most notable for playing young witch Enid Nightshade in the CITV show The Worst Witch, whom she began playing in the late 1990s...
. The character first appeared on 6 July 2005. Since the character's inception she has been involved in many notable storylines such as a three-way open relationship, drug taking, domestic abuse and rape storyline. In the character's early stages, she was portrayed as a less conventional character compared to the rest of the Hollyoaks teenagers.
Background
Nancy arrived as the younger sister of BeccaBecca Dean
Rebecca "Becca" Dean is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Ali Bastian. She debuted on-screen during episodes airing in 2001 and departed on 14 February 2007.-Storylines:...
, who came for a visit, initially only intended to feature in three episodes. After producers realised her potential, she was introduced as a main characters. On screen this played out seeing her later persuading her parents to let her stay in the village and live with Becca and her fiancé Jake Dean
Jake Dean
Jake Dean is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Kevin Sacre. Sacre portrayed the character between 2002 and 2008, before making a return on 5 October 2009. In March 2010, Sacre was axed from the series by Paul Marquess during his major revamp and cast...
permanently. Unlike her sister, Nancy isn't afraid to have her opinion known, and warned brother-in-law Jake Dean
Jake Dean
Jake Dean is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Kevin Sacre. Sacre portrayed the character between 2002 and 2008, before making a return on 5 October 2009. In March 2010, Sacre was axed from the series by Paul Marquess during his major revamp and cast...
not to mess Becca around or he would have her to deal with. Early friendships included Nicole Owen
Nicole Owen
Nicole Owen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Ciara Janson. First appearing in 2004, Janson left the soap in 2006, making a brief return in 2007.-Storylines:...
, Hannah Ashworth
Hannah Ashworth
Hannah Rose Ashworth is a fictional character from long-running Channel 4 soap opera, Hollyoaks, played by Emma Rigby. Hannah first appeared on-screen from October 3, 2005 until her exit on February 12, 2010....
and Sarah Barnes
Sarah Barnes
Sarah Barnes is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Loui Batley. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 10 October 2005. Sarah was created by executive producer David Hanson as part of the Barnes family. In 2009 Batley quit the serial in...
.
Casting
Auditions were held for the small part of Nancy Hayton. Actress Jessica FoxJessica Fox
Jessica Fox is an English actress. She is most notable for playing young witch Enid Nightshade in the CITV show The Worst Witch, whom she began playing in the late 1990s...
secured the role. She was initially contracted for three episodes. On Fox's second day of filming, she was handed more scripts and asked to stay on longer and then again. Since that point she has remained with the show.
Characterisation
The character of Nancy is unique compared to the rest of the characters in the soap opera. Nancy since inception has been portrayed less conventionally than others. Characterised by vibrant hair styles, an out-spoken nature, being independent and her belief in being different from others. Nancy's hair has dominated her many different appearances. She has had plenty of different hair colours. When asked about her character's 'crazy' hair styles Fox revealed that the ideas for the styles are a collaboration of her own ideas and the production team's: "I had a brown bob forever and I was sick to death of it, so when we came out of the Jake storyline last year, they wanted to change the image. They asked me if I wanted to dye it any colour, so I thought 'let's go red'. One of the character's small storylines reflected her views of being different when she set up a campaign "Strip Our Sixthform" so that the Sixth Form students at Hollyoaks High School didn't have to wear school uniforms like the rest of the school. Her friends supported her, and after Christmas her campaign was successful and the sixth form students didn't have to wear school uniforms. Of the character's dress sense the Hollyoaks wardrobe department said "Nancy Hayton has a unique distinctive look on Hollyoaks. She wears rich colours and vibrant patterns, which compliment her slim shape."Although Nancy was different from the other Hollyoaks teenagers, there was an area of society the character wanted to be included in. The hippy scene that one time boyfriend Foz was from displayed all the tendencies Nancy aspired to gain. Fox spoke about this during an interview saying: "I think Nancy's character is very strong, she's opinionated, but if you take all that away she's still very young particularly then, at the time of the drug storyline she was 16 she still wanted desperately to fit in even though she told everyone she didn't. At that particular party she was at she was surrounded by all these people who were traveling, really into their music, they had the life style that Nancy wanted, and she just desperately wanted to fit in at the end of the day, and that's what happens she took LSD and it went horribly wrong.
In 2009 after the her character had gone through certain transformations, the actress spoke about these changes. Fox also revealed what separated her character apart from certain others in terms of what impact storylines have had on them: "I've been spoilt with the dramatic storylines and now they've given me some good comedic stuff. Nancy's gone full circle and she's had the chance to become a whole character, rather than just one who has no end of tragedy and no end of silly affairs." She also said that since her character has been through so much up until 2009 that her character no longer feels the need to desperately shock everyone because she has had to grow up and evolve.
Relationships
The character's relationships have helped transform her development and personality. Her relationship with former tattoo artist Foz saw her being clingy to him mainly because he was a hippy and free, which at the time represented everything Nancy stood for, although she chose not to leave with him in the end when he left to work in GoaGoa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
. Whilst her relationship was onscreen, the character also became involved in a drugs storyline. Jessica Fox revealed how her character's longing to fit in with people like Foz who were different from the rest of society, ended up in her taking drugs to be different from others but the same as the hippy scene.
During Nancy's relationship with Jake
Jake Dean
Jake Dean is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Kevin Sacre. Sacre portrayed the character between 2002 and 2008, before making a return on 5 October 2009. In March 2010, Sacre was axed from the series by Paul Marquess during his major revamp and cast...
during the domestic abuse storyline Nancy's character was rapidly transformed. She went from out-spoken and self-sufficient into being needy and controlled. Actress Jessica Fox once stated in an interview that she and the production team were careful not to the character transform 'over night', stating: "We've tried really hard to make sure that Nancy didn't just snap back into her old self after the whole Jake incident last year. There's always a bit of darkness with her. That's something that really annoys me in soap, when something really dramatic happens to a character and they forget about it a couple of weeks later.", although the official Hollyoaks website described the character as vibrant and eccentric once more since her husband's detainment in the psychiatric hospital. After her relationships with Ravi and Kris played out onscreen, Fox said she felt it was out of character for Nancy to cheat on anyone., and that she felt her character felt so uncomfortable with her three-way relationship because she no longer wanted a shock element in her relationships and wanted a conventional relationship. Fox also said that the character of Russ Owen
Russ Owen
Russell Charles "Russ" Owen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Stuart Manning. He first appeared in August 2004 with his on-screen family and has been involved in storylines including being diagnosed with testicular cancer and kidnapping his son. It...
was her perfect match. Russ and Nancy later began the relationship although it didn't last long. Nancy is currently engaged to Darren Osbourne, but things have become complicated with Suzanne Ashworth
and her two young babies, fathered by Darren, moved into her flat.
Drug abuse
Alongside her early storylines the character featured in a storyline in which she took the drug LSD when she gave into peer pressure from those around her. The scenes showed her taking the drug to fit in with the crowd and impress then boyfriend Foz. Nancy had a bad reaction to the drug. She later ran into the woods and started hallucinating and became paranoid that everyone was talking about her, pointing at her and became terrfied. Jessica Fox appearing in adverts for Frank to help combat drug culture amongst teens while the storyline received praise from them, and Fox gave an interview about the stoyline and advice to stop teenagers making the same mistake as her character.Bisexual love triangle
In 2008 another big storyline for the character began to pan out onscreen. The conclusion of the storyline would become bisexual 'love triangle' and then two males and a female had ever entered a open threeway relationship together with each other, a first in a British soap opera. Jessica Fox was surprised of the storyline commenting that: "Bryan [Kirkwood] told me that we were going to do a storyline with Kris [FisherKris Fisher
Francis "Kris" Fisher is a fictional character from the long-running Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Gerard McCarthy. The character first appeared on-screen in September 2006 and left in August 2010 after McCarthy quit the show...
] and Nancy, and I was pleased because I always thought Nancy and Kris would go well together. Then he went on to say that she'd be involved with Ravi at the same time. I was quite shocked to be honest! Nancy's never cheated on anyone in her life because that's not who she is. But Bryan said to me 'we're going to have a lot of fun with this and I want it to be like a Carry On with loads of door-shutting and times when you don't know who's going to get caught'. So that's what we went for in the end." She also revealed that Hollyoak's time slot resricted the characters having a threesome so the open three way relationship was introduced in its place.
Onscreen it began to play out when a bomb scare in the Loft, Ravi Roy
Ravi Roy
Ravi Roy is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Stephen Uppal. He first appeared in an episode airing on 20 May 2008, introduced by series producer Bryan Kirkwood. Since then he has been central to a bisexuality storyline and living with an aneurysm...
saved Nancy and they then began their relationship. She then started seeing Kris. Ravi and Kris slept together and began an affair. Kris began playing them off against each other. In March 2009 Russ revealed to Nancy that Ravi had made a pass at him. When she went to confront him, she found him and Kris together in the Loft. It subsequently came out that Nancy had been seeing Kris too. Rather than split up, they decided to try having an open threeway relationship. Nancy ended this, and Kris broke up with Ravi to be with her, but she turned him down. However, Nancy then cheated on Russ with Kris, and she and Kris began a relationship later that year, which ended on Valentine's Day 2010.
Storylines
The character's first major stoyline was her involvement in the SIDSSudden infant death syndrome
Sudden infant death syndrome is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is unexpected by medical history, and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and a detailed death scene investigation. An infant is at the highest risk for SIDS during sleep, which is why it is sometimes...
that ran whilst they were babysitting Mandy Hutchinson and Tony Hutchinson
Tony Hutchinson
Anthony "Tony" Hutchinson is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Nick Pickard. Tony first appeared on-screen on 23 October 1995, the first episode of the series, and is the only original character still on the show to the present day...
's child. Alongside Hannah Ashworth
Hannah Ashworth
Hannah Rose Ashworth is a fictional character from long-running Channel 4 soap opera, Hollyoaks, played by Emma Rigby. Hannah first appeared on-screen from October 3, 2005 until her exit on February 12, 2010....
they discovered Grace dead and blamed themselves whilst not knowing her real cause of death.
Later storylines that Nancy was inolved had direct links with her onscreen sister Becca
Becca Dean
Rebecca "Becca" Dean is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Ali Bastian. She debuted on-screen during episodes airing in 2001 and departed on 14 February 2007.-Storylines:...
. The first being dealing with the fall out of his sister's affair with a school pupil whilst trying to keep her own relationship with Foz together, then the subsequent death of her sister, being left looking after nephew Charlie, taking her A-level examinations along side a small storyline which saw her constantly taking prescription medication to keep her awake. Nancy then trained to be a teacher like her sister. Nancy then abused party drugs.
The beginning of a long-running storyline surfaced onscreen when Nancy and Jake entered a secret relationship. It was to become the start of a domestic abuse storyline that producer Bryan Kirkwood decided to run. The storyline also received acclaim for helping educate under-25s about the issues of abusive relationships and for portraying it on their national platform. Onscreen their relationship later became public knowledge amongst the characters. The plot began to take shape when Jake began attempting to control Nancy, most clearly when he locked her in the house, so she missed her exams. A week later Jake decided to dump Nancy without any real reason but later reconciled. At Charlie's naming ceremony Jake proposed to Nancy, who accepted. Jake later started deceiving Nancy about the whereabouts of her engagement ring.
The storyline later began to seemingly mirror her onscreen sister's previous storyline in which she had an affair with a pupil. When Nancy started tutoring Newt, Jake became convinced that Nancy would cheat on him with the youngster because of Becca's infidelity with a student. He made failed attempts to keep them apart. Realising he was unable to control Nancy, Jake then reported Nancy to the police with allegations that she was having an affair with Barry Newton; she was arrested and sacked from her teaching job. Jake later became paranoid that Nancy wasn't taking the allegations seriously, so he launched a verbal attack on her, branding her 'pathetic'. She cried and started blaming herself; Jake then turned the situation around and comforted her.
Nancy was later cleared of the charges and Jake began to drive a wedge between her and her friends. Jake began deleting messages from friends and Nancy later finds out and goes out with Hannah Ashworth
Hannah Ashworth
Hannah Rose Ashworth is a fictional character from long-running Channel 4 soap opera, Hollyoaks, played by Emma Rigby. Hannah first appeared on-screen from October 3, 2005 until her exit on February 12, 2010....
and Sarah Barnes
Sarah Barnes
Sarah Barnes is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Loui Batley. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 10 October 2005. Sarah was created by executive producer David Hanson as part of the Barnes family. In 2009 Batley quit the serial in...
so they don't think they are being ignored. Hannah and Sarah tell Nancy what they think of Jake and his treatment towards her. Nancy then denies all and ostracises herself from them. Jake later put her phone into water so that she wouldn't be able to make up with them. She then needs her phone when Charlie falls ill; without the phone to call for an ambulance she ran into the middle of the street for help. Jake then blames Nancy for Charlie's condition. The storyline then branched and became more complex when the character of baby Charlie is diagnosed with leukaemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. This provided storyliners with a chance to release the true paternity of Charlie which had remained a secret from the surrounding characters. Onscreen Nancy discovers that Jake is not Charlie's biological father.
She then reluctantly agreed to a rushed wedding in a hospital chapel. Jake controlled all the arrangements, buying a wedding dress to replace one Nancy chose. Nancy became hysterical when Hannah and Sarah tried to persuade her not to go ahead with the wedding, and forbade them to attend. She ended up allowing Jake to remove earrings he thinks unsuitable. The storyline then took another dramatic turn and after the poorly attended reception she is subdued and has to be coaxed to dance. She then returned to her flat to sleep, but Jake grabbed Nancy and violently chucked her on the kitchen sink and attempted to rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
her until Steph Dean walked in the flat. Nancy then regretted marrying Jake. After he launched a tirade of insults at her, she realised that it was Jake who lied to the police about Newt. Jake denied that he would have raped her and tearfully begged her to stay, but Nancy walked out on him.
The storyline later saw a number of plots playing out onscreen directly connected to the domestic abuse plot. The first one of these was a custody battle which saw Nancy unlikely enlist Justin Burton
Justin Burton
Justin Burton is a fictional character from the long-running Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Chris Fountain. The character arrived in 2003 and departed on 3 June 2009. Justin arrived in a family of six, however by September 2006, his entire family had left the show...
to help her to gain custody of Charlie Dean. She then revealed to Frankie Osborne
Frankie Osborne
Francine "Frankie" Osborne is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Helen Pearson. She made her first on-screen appearance on 9 October 2002...
and a pub full of people that Jake tried to rape her, with Steph Dean backing her up.
Hitting rock bottom Jake kidnapped Charlie and tried to kill him and himself by gassing his car. Nancy found them and saved Charlie but left Jake for dead. Jake came around minutes after and barged into Nancy's flat and violently attacked Nancy. Jake then tried to take Charlie but Nancy hit Jake over the head with a frying pan, knocking Jake unconscious. Later Jake was sectioned under the mental health act. Nancy then slept with Justin and kept it a secret thereafter.
Still missing Becca Nancy decided she wanted to be a student teacher. Nancy began seeing Ravi Roy
Ravi Roy
Ravi Roy is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Stephen Uppal. He first appeared in an episode airing on 20 May 2008, introduced by series producer Bryan Kirkwood. Since then he has been central to a bisexuality storyline and living with an aneurysm...
,however also started an affair with Kris Fisher
Kris Fisher
Francis "Kris" Fisher is a fictional character from the long-running Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Gerard McCarthy. The character first appeared on-screen in September 2006 and left in August 2010 after McCarthy quit the show...
, who was also sleeping with Ravi.
After old friend Russ Owen
Russ Owen
Russell Charles "Russ" Owen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Stuart Manning. He first appeared in August 2004 with his on-screen family and has been involved in storylines including being diagnosed with testicular cancer and kidnapping his son. It...
saved Nancy from student Gaz Bennett
Gaz Bennett
Gary "Gaz" Bennett is a fictional character from the long-running Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Joel Goonan. He debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 25 November 2008. Goonan took a break from filming during 2010, and returned on-screen on 19 January 2011. Goonan announced his...
who locked her in a classroom the two began a relationship. As feuding began between Russ and Jacqui McQueen, Nancy was asked by Russ to run away with him and his son Max McQueen and start a new life. Nancy gives him an ultimatum, her or the baby, subsequently choosing to stay with Nancy. Russ later revealed he felt Nancy was a consolation prize. Nancy sought comfort in sleeping with Kris. Russ caught them in bed together. Unable to forgive Nancy, Russ kidnapped Max and left with him and Justin Burton
Justin Burton
Justin Burton is a fictional character from the long-running Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Chris Fountain. The character arrived in 2003 and departed on 3 June 2009. Justin arrived in a family of six, however by September 2006, his entire family had left the show...
.
In October 2009, already distraught after finding out the news of Sarah
Sarah Barnes
Sarah Barnes is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Loui Batley. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 10 October 2005. Sarah was created by executive producer David Hanson as part of the Barnes family. In 2009 Batley quit the serial in...
's death, Nancy finds out that Jake is being released from the home were he is staying, and is far from happy.
Nancy went to see Jake she tells him she detests him and that she wants him to move far away he reveals he doesn't want to go either but has nowhere else to go.
When Nancy bumps into Jake in drive and buy he tells her Hannah sent him letters(which turned out to be Nancy's new friend Loretta Jones
Loretta Jones
Loretta Jones is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap operas Hollyoaks and Hollyoaks Later. The character is played by Melissa Walton and first appeared on-screen on 26 November 2008 during the first series of the Hollyoaks spin-off Hollyoaks Later as a new love interest for the...
. By this time Nancy had resumed her relationship with Kris who had threatened Jake on numerous occasions since his release.However Jakes return still puts strain on Nancy's and Kris's relationship she would constantly picked argument and he told her she should be more concerned of Zoe being in prison for Sarah's murder however he decided to support her when he saw how affected she was by Jake being back in her life. Nancy caught an accidental meeting between Jake and Charlie at MOBS resulting in her calling the police, Jake was arrested for breaking his bail terms but was released when it was explained the meeting was accidental. Nancy's complaint however was still kept on record as the police thought it was risky having Charlie live with Jake's mum. To avoid him being put in care, Frankie gave custody of Charlie to Nancy. Nancy and Kris finally split up for good although it is hinted that they still have feelings for each other.
Jake and Nancy finally make up when Jakes ex Loretta begins stalking him and Nancy is the only person to believe him.
Loretta takes Nancy hostage in a classroom and hitting over the head. Jake comes to Nancy's rescue and convinces Loretta to turn her self in. Nancy and Jake go with Loretta to get her self sectioned. Nancy finally admits she believes Jake has changed. The following week Jake leaves Hollyoaks for good.
Nancy realises she needs a change in career realising she only wanted to become a teacher for Becca. Nancy and her ex student Theresa McQueen
Theresa McQueen
Theresa McQueen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Jorgie Porter. She made her first appearance in November 2008. The character was introduced as an extension of already established McQueen family...
join Mitzeee Minniver
Mitzeee Minniver
Ann "Mitzeee" Minniver is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Rachel Shenton. The character debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 23 July 2010. Mitzeee was created by series producer Paul Marquess for a different television series which was...
at a party, where Nancy plans to write a report on Mitzeee. She meets a footballer called Dean, who Mitzeee warns her of. However, Nancy takes no notice, and is almost gang raped by Dean and his friends, but is saved when Mitzeee tells Dean she is a reporter. Nancy is present in the delivery room whilts Theresa is in labour but ends up fainting, she wakes up next to Mitzeee and they bond.
Nancy comforts Darren Osborne
Darren Osborne
Darren Osborne is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. Darren was introduced by executive producer Phil Redmond as part of the Osborne family. Darren made his first on-screen appearance on 18 November 1996 and was initially played by Adam Booth, before the Booth...
who she likes and wakes up with him in her bed twice. She frets when India Longford
India Longford
India Longford is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Beth Kingston. She made her first on-screen appearance on 21 September 2009 and was introduced by series producer Lucy Allan as a new student at Hollyoaks Community College...
doesn't return home after a date with Cameron, unaware that she has been murdered by a middle aged man who is the proclaimed Cameron, Silas Blissett
Silas Blissett
Silas Blissett is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Jeff Rawle. Rawle's casting was announced in December 2010 and it was revealed that he would portray a killer. Rawle was approached by Hollyoaks and met with series producer, Paul Marquess, who...
. When the police discovers a body that is identified as India's, Nancy gets very upset and comforts India's sister Texas Longford
Texas Longford
Texas "Tex" Longford is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Bianca Hendrickse-Spendlove. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 17 May 2010. Texas was introduced by producer Paul Marquess as the on-screen sister of established character India...
who is deeply devastated.
She was then engaged to Darren but she dumped him after he moved in Suzanne Ashworth
Suzanne Ashworth
Suzanne Ashworth is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Suzanne Hall. She made her first on-screen appearance on 3 October 2005. Suzanne was introduced by series producer David Hanson as part of the Ashworth family. In February 2010, Suzanne was axed...
and his twins.
After Suzanne and the twins went back to Spain, Darren got a job as Cindy Longford's chauffeur, but Nancy agreed to get back together with him if he quit the job.
Reception
The character of Nancy has been hailed for her involvement in the domestic abuse storyline from a charity called Tender. The charity aims to educate under-25s about violence in relationships. A survey conducted by the group found that 96% of participants thought the scenes were effective in bringing the issue to viewers' attention. They went onto say that "As a national platform, Hollyoaks played a vital role in educating the public about the issue of abusive relationships." Jessica Fox was nominated for best actress at the 2007 British Soap Awards for her portrayal as the character, but lost out to Kate FordKate Ford
Kate Connerty is a British actress best known for playing the role of Tracy Barlow in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street from 2002 to 2007. Kate returned to Coronation Street on Christmas Eve 2010....
.
External links
- Character profile on the E4 website