I'm trying hun and I know I should stay away for the sake of my sanity.
I just don't like the thought of giving them the satisfaction of thinking they have driven me away, whilst rejoicing in an apparent 'victory' for a ship that's not even happening anyway (and never can because Kieron's DEAD).
I have hated plenty of couples but never delighted myself in the fans unhappiness if things don't go their way.

I need something trashy on TV to watch to stop me mulling over all this crap....

Ah yes, I will still love the song but the memories it evokes will be slightly tainted! (not much, but still...)

I've decided to be over this news. What will be, will be. You can't control what happens in soaps - imagine if you were a fan of poor Sharon in EE (Shannis!), following her godawful life.

We had a brilliant couple of years, an excellent sunset ending, and that in itself is rare enough in a soap.

Whatever happens, we'll know that McDean was a true (ahem, if fictional) love story, and that nothing will top it (probably).

Awww you guys.

I haven't watched Hollyoaks since about 2009 (And not really that long after the SE. Coincidence? I think not!), but I spent 2007-2009 completely hooked and, sad as it may sound, JP/C WERE the reason for that.

I don't invest in TV couples, to be honest (I tend to obsess for 5 minutes and then get over it), but I did with JPC, and even now - 6 years after they met and 4 years after they reunited/eft - they still remain my OTP of all OTP's.

I've spent the last 4 years in the fluffy happy comfort of knowing I was fortunate enough that MY personal OTP were one of very, very few couples in soap operas, to get a happy ending, together.

Now, I just feel...... dejected.

I know we should maybe try and be optimistic and dare suggest they'll find a way to keep JPC together, even without Craig, but I just feel it's clinging to TOO much. I just can't see any way the JPC relationship can survive.

I can't really keep up with the producers, but did I hear BK is back in charge? I think that would make the whole thing all the worse. He KNOWS how popular they were (and, for many, still are!!) and he went through everything with them (AND seemed so proud/fond of the relationship himself.) and now he could potentially play a part in tearing them apart? I find it so sad.

Still, I haven't watched Hollyoaks in a long time now, so maybe I just wont bother starting now (even though it was starting to sound decent again) and just stay in that SE bubble.

I feel exactly the same.
Part of me now debates whether I'd have even wanted a Sunset Ending in the first place having know it would all be taken away again eventually?
At least if they had never left happily together, I couldn't have been upset if one of them returning. At least I would have had 4 years to accept and move on from the that my OTP hadn't worked out.
I think the fact that we got an SE once makes it harder because it just feels cruel destroying something that was so PERFECT, for something that I can't see being anything else but crap. And I say that as mainly a John Paul girl!

There's always a chance he'll not be in any relationship.

I know it's not the same thing by a long way, but remember the NIall revenge thing? JP had been with Craig for a month then, he was enticed back by Niall and we know what happened, but the lovliest thing about that was that after all that happened, JP wanted to get back to Dublin to Craig, rather than stay for the funeral.
"I'm happy in Dublin" he said. Didn't mention Craig's name but obviously meant he was happy in Dublin with Craig.
He just gave the whole impression that he only wanted to be with Craig.
As I say, not the same thing as now by a long way, but it was that 'SE feeling' when he said that, and I thought it was lovely.
As was Mercy telling him he was lucky to have what he had.

Unfortunately, what's happened now is more fitting to what Jacqui said to him. I can't remember her exact words but it was something like 'If he hurts you, you can always come home'
She probably said it cos it was a Jacqui thing to say - aggresive rather than soppy - but that's probably what they're gonna play on now. Poor Craig I don't think he'd cheat on JP ever, but that's probably what they're gonna have happen so that JP can be the victim and the goodie and not the baddie.

I really do feel for you McDean fans

I'm a Chryed fan and currently championing thier happy ending. I would be gutted say five years down the line one came back without the other.

I'm not sure if BK has made the right move here. Although HO was great under his helm or so I heard, surely he knows himself that McDean was his biggest success and that giving them that Sunset Ending, he's tied up the arc in the way he saw fit at the time. I know returns happen and sometimes they work but IMO not when a characters story has come to it's natural end. Well I can't speak for McDean as I don't really watch HO but he should have never bought Kat back in EastEnders. Her story was over and now she's gone from hero to zero.

JP returning without Craig can only mean rewriting history, as I assume something must have happened to break them up. I know some of you hate the thought of Craig dying off screen but I do think it's the lesser of two evils here. I was also a big Sharon and Dennis fan (EastEnders) and I can accept Sharon's return because I know Dennis is dead. Ouside forces split them, not because they weren't strong enough to ride it through.

What's particularly painful - to me anyway - is that it's 4 YEARS since they gave us the SE, and in affect JP and Craig have been a storyline for 6 YEARS (I feel the need to shout those lengths of time!) I mean, in a soap like HO that's a lifetime and more!

JP has been there those 6 years. Almost his first word was to Craig, and his last word was as well. He's best known for the storyline coming out at 17 and falling in love with his best friend. He's done other bits but it's McDean he's famous for, almost. When Craig left they had no idea what to do with him he was like a spare part.

It's not only cos it IS 4 long years but it's the deliberate way HO even gave us little 'treats' of mentions of them, which I'm sure must be just as rare!

Showing the photo of JP and Craig in the Dean-Osborne family album in 2009. Carmel saying to Bart in 2010 "Look at our John Paul and his Craig, they went through Hell, but they got there in the end. Love always finds a way'
And of course, last year when Myra was looking for Jacqui and she phoned JP and it was Craig she was talking to. Something the writer/producer did DELIBERATELY to let us know that 3 years on they were still living together - happily, we assumed!

That's what hurts most. SE was like a legacy, but it was a legacy HO almost encouraged to keep going, with those little mentions/references.

And now they've destroyed it. Or BK has destroyed it by bringing JP back for longer than a short visit.

The only possible reason I could think they'd want to bring JP back is for old viewers to tune back in again. Do they really need to split them up for that and do they really need him back for that long! Please don't do this to us Hollyoaks people! You're breaking our hearts here!

We have discussed plausible ways that they could bring JP back and not have him split from Craig but that all depends on whether the writer's respect for the legacy of the Mcdean outweighs the 'drama' they could cause by having John Paul have another affair/love interest.
Personally I don't think they'll be able to resist the idea of pairing him someone else. They see JP's love drama as a big ratings winner.

Well after Craig left they had JP sleeping around with anyone and everyone trying to forget Craig and that didn't work. (when he was talking to Hannah he said something about how he'd been with lots of blokes but none of them were Craig) Then they plumbed the depths by having him shag a catholic priest, to cause a stir.

What's worse than a priest? That's probably what they'll do to him next. I always said if he hadn't left they'd probably turn him into a rent boy. So maybe they'll do that? Turn him into a male prostitute?
Why not? He has to do something to stand out from the other gay adults in HO!
Brendan can use him and beat him up, then! And he'll get paid for it!

I was one of the small minority who loved the storyline but hated Craig. With a passion I couldn't bare the character! I was happy to see Spike (?) come in and take JP's mind off the situation but Craig came back on the scene again. To be honest I thought the idea of them two becoming a couple was ridiculous and so unbelievable!

Now I am really looking forward to having JP back. He is now grown up and it will be nice to see what he is like now, as before he was just a boy who had just came out.

I can't wait for the character to return as I havent bothered with Hollyoaks since he left to be honest and definitely gives me a reason to tune back in.

But don't they have Ste as the main gay character with all the love drama?

I hope they don't put them together! Oh god that'll be AWFUL!

I think everyone has covered how I feel about this news already so i'm just adding my voice to this plea. If JP is coming back then fine but can't they just do a long-distance off screen for McDean? Its not ideal but its better than the alternative.

When James arrives back on screen I think we should start a new campaign of some sort. Get McDean trending and stuff....desperate times.

To be honest, if I absolutely HAD to chose someone from the current cast for John Paul to end up with (knowing that I can't chose Craig ), I'd chose Ste....
It's the only pairing I could possible stand.

Worst case scenario would be Doug and John Paul. Please in the name of all that is holy, do NOT go their Hollyoaks. The village will be awash with tears.

John Paul and Brendan just makes me laugh, I couldn't imagine it or take it seriously at all.

Lol Flukie, John Paul the rent boy
Maybe that is the 'right storyline' to entice him back that James was talking about?

I've tweeted the Hollyoaks twitter and retweeted some positive Mcdean stuff.
Tweeted James too (not hate because he's had enough of that,) just to say that whilst I'm happy to see JP, I'm gutted about JPC ending.
I've added my thoughts on the Hollyoaks Facebook page too and commented here; http://www.e4.com/blog/hollyoaks/pos...anchor=comment
I don't expect it to make the slighest bit of difference but I don't think it's a bad thing to remind them that some of us still care about Mcdean before they tear it all apart.

If I receive any response, I'll let you know but don't hold your breath......

John Paul belongs with Craig.
Ste belongs to Brendan it's the way of the world.

I just hope that however they do this, they're sensitive to the fans.

Are you serious, have people been hating on James because of this? I'm so embarassed by that, gives us all a bad name.

Yes lots of James hate.
I'm more disappointed for him rather than with him, because I feel that this is a step back in his career and I just can't see it working.

Yes this is what I've said all along.
They are doing this now so there's nothing we can do to change it.
But the least they can do is handle it with some sensitivity, knowing how much it still means to some of us. By sensitivity I mean John Paul being upset for longer than just two episodes before acting like Craig never happened.

Well we'll just have to hope for the best. I know people are already discussing who else he could be involved with but I honestly have no paitence for that, just because he's gay doesn't mean he'll have to interact with those characters.

I have no problem with James wanting to come back, I mean we might as well be hating on Guy too for not coming back, doesn't make sense to blame the actors.

In a way I am looking forward to seeing John Paul again and I do think James wouldn't come back unless they have something good in mind for him and to be fair to him his girlfriend is in the show, he seems friendly with a lot of the cast, it would be daft to turn down the job.

That's true, but assuming that HO reunites Brendan and Ste, I have the feeling that Brendan and Ste will not be a happily ever after... Brendan might even leave HO in a coffin, imo.

So (barring the awful possibility of the show continuing with Stug) Ste will probably be free after Brendan's exit.

IF we can't prevent JP being broken up from Craig and put with someone else, I'd rather have him with Ste (in a long-running and carefully developed storyline in which he goes from hate to appreciation and love for Ste) rather than with Doug or a priest or any other horrible alternative.

All of this is so sad.

Oh my god, that would be awful! And now I'm worried that's what will happen.

IF they must split them up, they'll probably make out it happened a while back, so JP would OF COURSE be over it, but there's no way they should expect us to just accept that when we wouldn't have had any knowledge of it.

DS said he'll be back on screen in time for Christmas...... Should we expect to see little pieces of evidence that (if they're going down the road of splitting them up) the relationship is in trouble between now and then? Maybe some contact with family members about it (obviously with JP off screen at the minute, so maybe via phone calls) so that if they split up in order for JP to return, it wont just happen out of the blue (which would just be the biggest slap in the face.)

I'd like to think they wouldn't be cruel enough to throw JP into another relationship, at least not right away. If they must split McDean up, then I want to witness the heartache of it with JP, because there's no way we should have to go through it whilst he could be over it.

Oh, I'm so overthinking this. Never thought I'd feel this protective/emotionally attached to them still after all this time.

I may have to leave D.S sooner rather then later to avoid any horrible news.

I can't believe they've done this to our beautiful SE ending.

I did have this thought that what if John Paul comes back and tells us that he and Craig split a while ago?
That way they could skip straight past the depression (which I imagine they don't feel is particulary interesting to show but I personally would like to see depressed JP) and have him doing what he does best - sleeping around the village.
That to me would be the worst possible scenario because it would make him look like he never really gave a crap about Craig at all.
They already did that once when Craig left and they made John Paul cry for an episode or two before moving on. It made him look really cold and nearly destroyed the character. I can't handle priesty-like shenanigans a second time around!