I'm talking about those characters who were pushed to front of the show, maybe had lots of big storylines, or were supposed to be the next big thing, but due to exiting the show, are now completely irrelevant, like they never really existed.

Stella - CS: She arrived with much fan fare due to Michelle Collins' signing. Stella was pushed to the front of show, immediately made Leanne's mother, and ingratiated into every story going. If something had happened to one character, then it had happened to Stella. Then, due to a change in producers, MC was out, and Stella was on the backburner. Now, it's like she never existed.

The Tates - ED: This may be a bit of a controversial choice. The Tates carried the show in the 90s and early 2000s, but once Zoe had left, the family were consigned to history. Newer fans who never watched the show back then won't know who they are or the kind of impact they had. While Charity's son Noah is still present, people still question who his dad is every so often, thinking it's Cain, when really it was Chris Tate (a fact that rarely gets mentioned). It seems odd that one of the show's most popular families has had no lasting impact.

The Parkers - Neighbours: Ask most Neighbours fans and they'll say this is a good thing - it really is. The Parkers were made the stars of the show when they arrived, getting major story after major story. They were unlikeable, but that didn't stop them hogging all the screen time. Nicola West breezed in, making them tolerable for a month or two. Once the actors decided to leave, the Parkers disappeared, leaving no lasting trace.

Derek Branning

Louise on Emmerdale. Pub landlady, a killer, serial adulterer and countless others but it's like she was never in the village now

Michael Moon

Wellard

EE - Anthony and Tyler Moon. Two pretty boys with little else to offer who were shoved down our throats. No memorable storylines yet BK set them up as the next big thing of Walford. Sank without a trace and no one mentions them anymore. Even Whitney hasn't said Tyler's name to Lee in a conversation. Them and Danny from 2005/06 were the worst members of the Moon family.

Who remembers this pitiful promo for the brothers? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hJq5SVX1_8

HORRIBLE

Sadly I'll also add some better characters to this list too:

Melanie Owen. Tamzin Outhwaite has gone onto enjoy a decent career post-EE but it's amazing how Mel hasn't left the lasting impact. Possibly because she has no family ties left on the Square. She had a fling with Phil, knows Sharon and was married to Ian for about 2 seconds.

Chrissie Watts. Again, an excellent character who we all love, but has not been mentioned in years despite her connections to Den and Sharon.

Vanessa Gold. Was touted as a high profile character but was ultimately wasted because she mainly had storylines with the Brannings.

Emmerdale - the Wyldes

Possibly the Di Marcos on EE. Beppe was the only one not axed when most of the family left but it was clear they were cut to make way for the Slaters.

It was a mistake to axe them IMO. A underrated family.

The Ferrieras - EE.

Less said about them...the better. I know one of them was in "Kidulthood"

Aaaaargh, that Moon promo thing is one of the worst things I've ever seen. Utterly ridiculous.

May have been crap characters and actors, but they were both shaggable. Yes please Have any of them done anything since leaving EE?

Another one who seems to be hardly mentioned is Ava, Tanya's long lost half-sister and Cora's daughter. Granted I know she wasn't that memorable and her romance with Uncle Curtis rekindled, but Abi barely mentions her neither did Tanya's breif return in the live show.

Ava hartman - axed too soon and her storyline with cora never got much screentime.

Danny/anthony moon - in it for short periods and not memorable. tyler ks partly menorable
Becuase of whitney

Alot of the 90s axed characters - next to No one mentioned these characters especially thise in 98-99. One of them was a hairdresser but her name eludes me.

April, jack and suzy - they don't even get mentioned much anymore.
I'd love to see april again

The Redmond/Hills family
The Millers

You'll not see threads asking for a comeback.

Ricky Butcher. Despite being from a major family, and being with the show for years, he was a vanilla character that is only remembered because he was married to Bianca.

Rose Cotton. Bringing in Dot's sister could have really worked, but the actress was just so wrong for the part.

CS: Tina. You don't exactly miss her.

Callum..CS...say no more.!!!

Can I just add, VILE ?

EE Jack Branning.

I so hope the Roscoes from hollyoaks could be included on this list very soon.

I keep forgetting about them, despite the fact I actually liked them. It's odd that they are just a footnote now, despite their big stories.


I was more thinking of major characters that had big storylines, or were shoved in our faces, but didn't make any lasting impression.

April wasn't a major character.

I don't think Jack counts, as he's been referenced recently, either through Max, or by Ronnie & Roxy, so he's definitely left an impression on their relationship.

Suzy, I think was supposed to be a big character, which fizzled when she left abruptly. I don't really think she had any major stories of her own, so she was never going to leave much of an impact.


He doesn't count as he's a current character.

Those stupid family of duffers who won some TV competition to be cast on Emmerdale. It was disastrous and they were told to bolt after about a year. Anybody remember that?

Disagree with Danny, he killed Dennis Rickman and nearly killed Grant.

Hollyoaks:

Many important characters from the show's early days e.g. Kurt, Jambo, Maddie P and others may as well now have never existed

Past villains: Rob Hawthorne, Toby Mills, Sam Owen all terrorised the cast during their time and are now irrelevant

Katy Fox was heavily promoted when she was on the show but is now forgotten (even when Warren was still around, there was no more mention of her)

With the exception of Brendan, who still gets referenced because of Ste, none of the other Irish characters that were in the show at the time (Cheryl, Lynsey, etc.) have any impact now

Doug was another big romance for Ste but is now never mentioned, to the point where everyone acted like John Paul was Ste's first marriage and Doug never existed (even Tony, who had a joint wedding with Ste and Doug!)

The whole 2011-2012 sixth form group who took up a lot of focus. Only Esther and Sinead are left (with Sinead soon to leave)

Duncan and Ruby Button

Summer was created for a publicity stunt to promote Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Sound of Music by having the lead actress written into the show in a storyline where she auditions for Lloyd Webber and wins the role of Maria. But as soon as that finished, the character vanished and that was that. (It was also used as OB's exit ... come to think of it, he has no more legacy remaining in Hollyoaks either)

Clare Devine's impact is pretty much lost now that Fraser's gone and Grace has become her own character instead of the show trying to use her as a Clare replacement

Michaela seems to be the only one of the original McQueens who's never referenced or spoken about. Carmel, Jacqui and Tina's names come up now and then, but never Michaela's.

How about Callum Monks he was suppose to sleep with every woman in Walford but decided to leave

Interesting thread!

EE Steve Owen. Brilliant character.