'Hollyoaks' becomes first TV soap to show 'anorexia death'
![[Deleted User]](https://wd.vanillicon.com/v2/d144ae54cfc95d7215cce1ccc671dfc0.svg)
[Deleted User]
Posts: 379 Forum Member
✭
Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks will become the first TV soap to highlight the deadly risks of anorexia in a controversial storyline to be screened this summer.
As the size zero debate continues, the show will explore the potentially fatal consequences of the social pressure to be thin.
The storyline will focus on one Hollyoaks's most popular characters Hannah Asworth.
Hannah - played by Emma Rigby - will develop the illness after befriending an anorexic model.
Melissa (Carla Chase) manipulates her new friend and teaches her weight-loss techniques.
The pair become "anorexic buddies", encouragaging each other to starve themselves, by September one of the girls will be dead.
Although Anorexia has been explored in various soaps, this is the first time that it has been identified as a fatal illness.
The young actresses spend hours in make-up before filming to create bruised eyes and parchment skin, and to highlight the veins on the backs of their hands, which is a tell-tale sign of the condition.
Emma Rigby told the Independant: "My skin has a blue tinge to it, almost corpse-like.
"I have red and blue grease around my eyes to make them look tired and scars built up on my face from spots. I look really horrific."
The storyline is the most challenging faced by the 17-year-old since joining the show two years ago, but she insists that she is happy to raise awareness of the illness. "The magazines show the glossy side of size zero models but this shows the unglossy side, the reality of what being ultra-thin can lead to," she said.
Just over a million people in the UK suffer from illnesses like anorexia and bulimia, although experts predict the true figure is far higher.
It usually begins in adolescence, affecting 1 to 2 percent of teenagers and students.
One in five people diagnosed with anorexia dies from starvation or by suicide, according to Beat, which has advised Hollyoaks on the storyline.
Hollyoaks producer Bryan Kirkwood, said that he was concerned that the show could act as an how-to guide to vulnerable viewers.
"But we are telling a tough story and showing the consequences in every episode. I defy anyone to say we are glamorising it in the series," he said.
"If a single viewer gets help as a result of this storyline, it will have been worthwhile," he added.
----
Thanks to 'Liverpool Lassy' at the Hollyoaks Forum.
I hope Hannah doesnt die!!
As the size zero debate continues, the show will explore the potentially fatal consequences of the social pressure to be thin.
The storyline will focus on one Hollyoaks's most popular characters Hannah Asworth.
Hannah - played by Emma Rigby - will develop the illness after befriending an anorexic model.
Melissa (Carla Chase) manipulates her new friend and teaches her weight-loss techniques.
The pair become "anorexic buddies", encouragaging each other to starve themselves, by September one of the girls will be dead.
Although Anorexia has been explored in various soaps, this is the first time that it has been identified as a fatal illness.
The young actresses spend hours in make-up before filming to create bruised eyes and parchment skin, and to highlight the veins on the backs of their hands, which is a tell-tale sign of the condition.
Emma Rigby told the Independant: "My skin has a blue tinge to it, almost corpse-like.
"I have red and blue grease around my eyes to make them look tired and scars built up on my face from spots. I look really horrific."
The storyline is the most challenging faced by the 17-year-old since joining the show two years ago, but she insists that she is happy to raise awareness of the illness. "The magazines show the glossy side of size zero models but this shows the unglossy side, the reality of what being ultra-thin can lead to," she said.
Just over a million people in the UK suffer from illnesses like anorexia and bulimia, although experts predict the true figure is far higher.
It usually begins in adolescence, affecting 1 to 2 percent of teenagers and students.
One in five people diagnosed with anorexia dies from starvation or by suicide, according to Beat, which has advised Hollyoaks on the storyline.
Hollyoaks producer Bryan Kirkwood, said that he was concerned that the show could act as an how-to guide to vulnerable viewers.
"But we are telling a tough story and showing the consequences in every episode. I defy anyone to say we are glamorising it in the series," he said.
"If a single viewer gets help as a result of this storyline, it will have been worthwhile," he added.
----
Thanks to 'Liverpool Lassy' at the Hollyoaks Forum.
I hope Hannah doesnt die!!
0
Comments
As previously mentioned, congratulations to the producers for not shying away from such a harrowing condition.
Where as Melissa is really bad and trying to bring Hannah down with her. Also Melissa is badly anorexic and been suffering from this for ages. Although it would be very sad and tragic if Hannah is the one who is the victim from this illness.
No-one would be expecting THAT!
It makes sense for it to be Melissa that dies, seeing as she was just bought in for this storyline, but because everyone expects it to be her, it makes me wonder if it will be Hannah.
Does anyone know when this storyline will reach it climax? Or if they're planning to take a break from it soon? I just feel like I need a rest from it - it's a bit in your face, not to mention I find Melissa one of the most annoying characters ever.
I also found Hannah annoying though, her going into some flying rage at some shaggy haired guy and knocking over beer cans, lol.
I think Hannah won't die, but she would have cheated death in a way to surprise us. No way in hell would she be written off. She is way to connected within the show, so if she goes, then many other plots would collapse. On the other hand, Hollyoaks has become quite predictable, so it wouldn't be a surprise on the flip side if she does die.
As some other people have mentioned, I feel that this soap can only chose the cast based on their looks, and try to make someone be the odd one out by using say a chubby ginger person, or a very short skinny person, not on the character at all.
It depends on many factors, including how fast weight is lost and what their Body Mass Index should be. Not to mention the fact that it is often complications like cardiac arrest, electrolyte imbalance or illnesses that are usually harmless but that the immune system is too weak to fight off, that actually lead to death. Suicide due to depression / low body image is actually the biggest killer of those with anorexia.
In fact 10% of anorexics die of the condition and a much higher percentage struggle to control it throughout their lives.
Hopefully this storyline will lead to awarenes and maybe help catch some cases before they fully develop. The more alert people are to spotting the signs, the earlier it can be caught.
It screws your body up so much that (as previous poster said) your electrolytes get imbalanced, and they are what send signals to the nerves to pump the muscles in your heart. So if they get seriously out of wack...it can be curtains. :eek:
I think it will probably be Melissa that dies, but you never know, to give it more shock value it may very well be Hannah, which is ashame cause I like that character.
http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/H/hollyoaks/contact/questionnaire/
I am really looking forward to this storyline and im glad Hollyoaks out of all the soaps are going to portray it as they have the biggest teenage fanbase.(At my school anyway).
Overall with this storyline I think that it is a bit much, as Hollyoaks has probably not caused but been a factor in a fair few eating disorders over the years. If you think about it, its main audience is teenage girls and the way women are portrayed in Hollyoaks isn't great. I think Hollyoaks has to decide what it is. If they are going to do 'issues' then they have to be more responsible in the choices that they make if they want to have any integrity. Maybe they don't want that but i think that they would ultimately get more viewers and be more loved and taken more seriously as a programme if they did. Maybe I am just naive to how television works.
I am shocked that you think that Hollyoaks would be a factor in girls developing eating disorders. That’s a cop out, big time. People who are mentally stable wont be swayed by thin images anyway, so for people to blame a soap for maybe contributing to such disorders is beyond me. Its like everyone is making out that the girls on Hollyoaks are gorgeous and skinny. None of them are skinny, they are all curvy, proportioned girls (seen the figure on Mercedes??? Sooo curvy in all the right places), same goes for Steph Dean, Jessica, Zoe, Carmel, Nancy. People are making out like the girls are all stick insects. You lot must watch a different show to me then.