I know Hollyoaks loves to take us beyond the realms of reality as often as possible.

But surely Ste taking on Amy and her new guy in a custody battle just goes to far? Would he honestly stand a chance? his life has been incredibly erratic! Drugs, domestic violence etc

It's surely ridiculous that he thinks he could win?

I think it is ridiculous. Amy has never stopped Ste from seeing the kids as long as he was in a stable situation to do so. They have moved into the village not just because of Ryan's job, but so they can be near Ste. Now all of a sudden Ste wants legal rights and he has nothing on his side.

He doesn't live in his own home, he moves from his sisters house to which ever guy he is currently dating. So where would the kids stay? He has been unemployed for a while and has just started a business with friends money that may fail, he is extremely violent, he is a drug addict who keeps relapsing despite both his sisters paying for treatment and now Tony has. He was homeless and took his kids to live in a shed, he is thief (and took his children along once) and will repeat that behaviour in the future if he needs to. Leah doesn't want to see him and shouldn't be forced to, Ste needs to change his life so Leah wants to see him.

Then there is Ryan and Amy, seems like a solid couple, Ryan is a cop, I am assuming Amy has a job and they seem like a secure enough family to look after 2 kids.

So how can Ste exactly win this? Surely it will only be what Amy allows or no more access than he gets normally..

Exactly!! It's complete fantasy that someone in Ste's position would even entertain the idea- never mind actually have a case,

If he takes it to court, with his record (including when he was looking after the kids and getting them to run while stealing food and having them sleep in a shed) and Leah not wanting anything to do with him, it's a possibility he could be denied any access.

I don't understand what is going on in his head and all because the kids couldn't be at his opening for the spray tan businesses (why he would want his young children to see half naked people, I don't know) because they will instead be moving house on that day.

Is that really what is starting the ball rolling? That is ridiculous- I honestly can't stand the character of Ste anymore, I also can't help feeling like the producer on HO is just pandering to Kieron- honestly he seems to have had every storyline going- domestic violence as both the victim and the abuser, teen pregnancy, realising he is gay, countless lovers, drug use, HIV, homeless- countless new business ventures (spray tan, that sandwich place) he's been attacked, had a legal gay marriage- attempt to set up a family with girl best friend.. the list goes on!

Many actors in other soaps are lucky if they get one decent storyline.

I assume so because everything else has been fine and this is the only thing lately that has upset Ste about the kids, apart from Leah not wanting to be with him. There could be something else later on though.

Ste should leave, he's a horrible character that just goes around in circles.

Everything about Ste is ridiculous now. I wonder how TPTB can think that we enjoy seeing this character spiralling downward on a daily basis. It's boring, and irritating as hell.

I haven't watched HO much for a while, but that truly is a LOL paragraph. Thanks for making me laugh. I should give HO another shot just to find out what happens to Ste and the court room shenanigans.

Ste is a special snowflake so logic has no place being near him

It always feels like he wants to be first to have xyz as a storyline, first gay marriage in a church, became steve Mcqueen, he needs to have new exciting stories consistently
I am surprised hes not had a sex change on the show yet

And a mockery of it, given the circumstances in which it happened. Congratulations, Kirkwood!!

Im getting concerned with the problems in real life with Harry that he will want JP back

I actually more prefer the "unique" angle of the child turning uncomfortable with "daddy" after he put her through so much. It's realistic she'd want normal and now she's growing older to see the positives more in mums normal relationship than her dad's latest "unrealistic" squeeze. Doug and JP were the only 2 who really were "normal" to some degree and with JP, even then, JP had to put up with a lot and deal with his addictions. Most kids turn against parents with addictions and constant dysfunctional relationships as they get older. Why would Leah see her dad with a kid just out of school as "normal", especially when he/ they can't provide for the kids? vs her mum with a man who is sensible, her age and able to provide for the kids?

I could understand more claims to access than a full on custody battle. Does he even have any legal claims to Leah? He's not on the birth certificate and never married Amy. Unless he adopted Leah offscreen, the only child he could legally fight for is Lucas and then he'd have to be claiming Ryan was abusive or something to even stand a slight chance at joint custody. The best I'd say he could go for would be access to Lucas.

Ste is so annoying these days, but ptb see him as the 'star' of the show, they overuse him with the same sls where Ste gets in a mess, feels sorry for himself.. character is stale and needs a long break.
Drug addict, abuser and no job as if he would win but knowing hollyoaks, Ryan will turn out to be the bad guy and Ste wins

I hope they don't go the route of Ryan being a true bad guy. I'm okay with him being a little bit of a bent copper who will bend the rules to get the bad guy caught, but would prefer they didn't make him an unfit dad/ evil. It's refreshing to see Ste, who loves his kid but is not a "good" father being forced to change his ways as his child is no longer so naive to it all. I find that a more honest story when you have what is a father constantly screwing up but ultimately who loves his kids having to compete with normal, down to earth, non-screw up step dad.

Ry-Ry has to be dodgy somewhere down the line if only because

1) All HO cops are dodgy or tremendously thick, thems the rules. Ry-Ry obviously isn't thick.

2) No couple can have a conventional happy relationship, thems also the rules

Oh look- DS are reporting yet another big storyline for Ste- a possible health issue which could be related to previous drug abuse or could "e something else"

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/holl...hay-storyline/

Ugh!! How many huge sls does one character need fgs. Another sl where Ste feels sorry for himself, everyone panders to him and more drama for starry.. I hate that couple

Maybe he will think he's back with his one and only true love Brendan
LOL at Kieron saying he can order a pint with his eyes shut, I was watching some early scenes with James and he was trying to pull a pint which went everywhere and his silly little b\f had to do it for him. He was pulling pints perfectly when he worked in Chez Chez

The fact that Ste thinks of himself as the best parent for Leah and Lucas with his track record his laughable!

He can hardly be surprised that Leah has now wised up to him and no longer wants to see him. Last time she and Lucas visited, Ste had them sleeping in a shack in the woods because he was homeless and stealing food.

Rather than forcing her to see him, he should be taking a closer look at what has lead to the situation: his own behaviour!

All good points!

From the latest spoilers I'm getting the feeling we won't see a typical custody battle with Ste standing a chance. I get the feeling this "paranoia" is leading to a mental health issue and we'll see Ste convinced something has happened to his children, with him believing he is "protecting" them by custody. With his "issues" he won't see past how he doesn't stand a chance and end up making his case worse, children more scared of him etc... thus us feeling sorry for him and Harry dealing with more struggles. IS there any connection between schitzophrenia and substance abuse?

That's a really good theory Nicky and could be interesting.

I don't specifically know about schizophrenia but there certainly are links between Substance Abuse and certain Mental Illnesses and i think Paranoia (which can be a sympton of many conditions) is a common one, especially after taking LSD or Ecstasy.

I think any drugs can 'open the door' so to speak though in so much as there could already be an underlying condition (ie a person was born with it) but it doesn't come to the fore until that part of the mind has been brought to the Conscious by taking, what used to be referred to as 'mind enhancing' drugs.