I'm pretty sure people already think that the majority of the time. Given that only 94% of rape cases end in a conviction in the UK, and only 15% are even reported.

Pete didn't look like a monster predator, when revealed what he was Pete was very good at covering his tracks. Poor Ellie going to a very bad time with Nick around the village.

That really annoys me ( among many things in this show lol) that they just walked into a pub that was supposedly lock up for the night, knock over some glasses all without Mac charging in waving a baseball bat. Isn't there a back entrance to the pub.

Why was Tegan dresssed as a Pokemon 😲

Why should he seem like a predator? What does a predator seem like? 90% of rapists are people known to the victim. Partners, friends, family...

Surely its better that he wasn't 'predator' -like. If we want women and men to be more aware of potential dangers, doesn't it make more sense to try to break stereotypical ideas about what a rapist is like?

The wallpaper made me think of Mansun and attack of the grey lantern

Hollyoaks used to love playing wide open space

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1300_.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppmUdn6GUXQ

Mercedes won't be lending Cleo her jewelry again and hit the roof maybe making Cleo work more at the pub to buy her a new pair of ear rings.

Interesting to see that 's "angry at being punched by ex-girlfriend" face is the same one he uses for every other...Dramatic scene.

Agreed, if he did have intercourse with her when she was unconscious then it would have been rape but we didn't see this, it was presented as consensual.


Exactly, storylines like this which encourage people to doubt rape victims does nothing to help this.

What annoyed was why was the pub not open in freshers week, surely it should be doing business

I don't think this was remotely ambiguous. It really wasn't presented as consensual from where I stand.

I'd imagine the intent of this storyline is to discourage doubts, ultimately. Hollyoaks are working with rape crisis on this storyline. Hopefully, it will have the opposite effect of what you're worried about.

I think the problem was we didnt see enough to make a clear decision, we know she remembers nothing, but for all we know she could have been saying Yes Yes yes, just she doesnt know

Maybe he enjoys it...(And don't forget, one of them tried to kill him. But was unsuccesful. Unfortunately.)

Slapping Freddie should be a weekly thing

If the intention was to discourage doubt then I think they failed badly, especailly going by a lot of peoples reactions on twitter. Kirkwood said he wanted to create a debate about consent and to divide opinion .

Nick (to Ellie) "There's always the kebab shop."

Hollyoaks has a kebab shop? Why has this purveyor of fine foods never been mentioned before? And should we assume that, if, or when, it finally appears, that Harry Enfield will be running it?

If Ellie hadn't of hit Freddie cause of the Cindy lie and find out it was her mother she still hit Freddie.

I agree. The point of the storyline is consent. It's an issue that lacks understanding. The Ched Evans case showed that people have some really dodgy views that somehow, if a man ends up in a bedroom with a drunk woman then she's there for the shagging. Although that case is possibly a bad example, given that his mate texted Evans to invite him to join in and his actions were just plain sordid. But yeah, I hope it makes blokes think 'if in doubt, do nowt', as girls get the 'modify your behaviour' message rammed home already.

Yep, I saw twitter. But this is only the first episode, i'm going to give it more of a chance before deciding they've done a shit job with it. Nevertheless, no one who saw that episode came into it without preformed ideas and prejudices about rape victims and perpretrators. Whether it encourages someone to doubt Ellie or to doubt Nick is going to be mostly down to whatever has informed their opinions in the culture at large before this episode, so all i'm saying is we might see this play out well. I have already seen survivors praising the storyline on twitter, and that's encouraging.

As for Kirkwood, he's just a nob.

She does.

I have no doubt that a large number of rapes go unreported, for obvious reasons, but how is it even possible to know the percentage?

Leela might easily get tired now she is pregnant, and might feel a bit out of it among younger single people. Cameron might be jealous too.

It occurs to me seeing Jesse was there serving drinks that we have not seen him & Leela interact since their "date" in June.

Leela is back on in the next few days.


As Neeta is still there judging by the opening sequence, Ellie might do. Ellie had got used to Neeta, and as she is in contact with her mum Neeta she has no reason to mind Neeta anymore.

Hopefully, this message will come across. I come from the same town as Ched Evans and he was the year above me at school. Every single person I know has showed him unrelenting support and there loafs of campaigns to get him released. The victim had to leave the area and change her identity


I think you are right. I should it give it a chance, if they are working with a charity hopefully it will be done sensitively.

Well the research was carried out by rapecrisis so you'd have to ask them but all the stats are there on their website, and they probably have a pdf to download that explains their methodology.

I'd imagine what they did was take a large survey sample of women and asked them if they've ever been raped or sexually assaulted, and whether they'd reported it, and then generalised the findings to the population at large. That's basically how any statistics like this are found out. Its something to do with the law of large numbers and the randomness of who you ask, it does work out to be representative somehow. Its the how they do social attitude surveys and stuff. I don't get the maths stuff but I know from learning about social research in uni that its a sound and reliable data collecting method.

You would think wouldn't you? But unfortunately we live in a culture where that doesn't always happen. What's happened to Ellie, from Ellie's POV is horrible and I do feel for her. At the same time, I've known people who have had drunken mistakes that they hardly remember but they've just put it down to a stupid amount of vodka and a dodgy one night stand (not saying at all this is what happened to Ellie).


I didn't think you were criticising me personally. We obviously have different views on this and there is nothing wrong with that. I can't see it as black and white as some but I think that was the whole intention with this story.


Agreed and that's one of the reasons, for me, that i don't see it as clear cut as others.

That was such a powerful episode. I genuinely don't know what to think. It's definitely not black and white or clear cut. Ellie and Nick seemed to be having fun and Ellie was flirting right up until she fell into the bed, at which point she had her head turned and said "I'm so drunk" and he continued kissing her.

It's so difficult because the scene cut there. Did Ellie fall unconscious? If she did, it was rape. Did Nick take off her underwear while she was still consciousness lying there, not saying or doing anything. Not saying yes, but not saying no? I would still classify that as rape as Ellie would clearly be in a vulnerable position and he was taking advantage. Or after that scene did Ellie wake up a bit and signal she wanted to sleep with him?

To add to it all, Nick seems like a lovely lad - just down to earth and relatable. Watching the HO sexual consent documentary on Al 4, the actors said that Nick seemingly being a nice and normal guy was extremely important when casting.

I honestly don't know where I stand because we didn't see enough. On one hand, I'm thinking Ellie and Nick were totally consenting up until when she fell on the bed and the scene cut...but on the other hand he was clearly more sober than her and maybe he should've just left it when he realised how 'wasted' (what he said to her before the scene cut) she was.

I don't know what I think right now and this is going to be really interesting as I expect this is what Hollyoaks want- different opinions on this storyline can educate. And hopefully it will educate people, me included! (I'm a 21 year old girl)