Hollyoaks’ vital new storyline reflects ‘hostile world’ faced by trans people

Hollyoaks’ “extraordinary” transgender youth mental health storyline is reflective of the “general hostile world for trans people”, one of the show’s writers has explained.

Since last year, the British soap has navigated a story following Ro Hutchinson (played by Ava Webster), a 13-year-old teen who decided to begin socially transitioning.

Though initially hesitant, Ro’s parents Diane (Alex Fletcher) and Tony (Nick Pickard) have been supportive of his gender transition, though recent months have seen Ro increasingly struggle with his mental health.

In upcoming scenes, airing during Mental Health Awareness Week, Ro will reach crisis point before seeking support through an LGBTQ+ helpline.

The storyline has been curated in collaboration with Switchboard LGBT, which runs the UK’s National LGBTQIA+ Support Line, plus suicide prevention charities Samaritans and Papyrus.

Over previous months, Ro has endured vile transphobic bullying at the hands of fellow teen Arlo (Dan Hough), and difficulty accessing healthcare or other resources to further his transition. The scenes were intentionally reflective of what many trans youth experience

In January, the abuse led Ru to self-harm with excessive alcohol consumption, as he wondered whether the transphobia he was experiencing directly, and transphobia across the country, would ever end.

“I think there’s something extraordinary for Hollyoaks to be really situating Ro in the real world,” says Emma Frankland, one of the trans writers behind Ro’s plot.

“This character is feeling the pressure of headlines on the papers day after day saying anti-trans slogans. I think it would be reductive to suggest that Ro reaches this point because of purely the bullying because it is a generally hostile world for trans people at the moment and so much of that has been aimed at trans young people.”

The climax of Ro’s mental health journey comes at a pertinent time, following on from the UK Supreme Court’s ruling in April that the protected characteristic of “sex” in the country’s 2010 Equality Act refers to “biological sex”, and therefore excludes trans women. As a result, LGBTQ+ charities have warned of trans people in the UK reaching “crisis” point.

Yet for Frankland, who has been working on Ro’s storyline since early 2024, the Supreme Court’s ruling doesn’t make the plot any more or less vital.

“Trans rights have been under attack in this country consistently for a long time now and it doesn’t show signs of stopping. In fact, with the news cycle at the moment, things are tangibly much, much worse than they ever have been,” she said.

Frankland points to the fact that Ro’s hospitalisation scenes aired around the same time as health secretary Wes Streeting announced a ban on puberty blockers for trans under 18-year-olds.

“It sort of almost doesn’t matter when an episode will air. You can almost guarantee that at the moment it’s going to coincide with some attack on our rights. I agree that at the moment, it is a particularly intense time, and I think that this episode is so important just as a reminder.”

During Hollyoaks‘ special trans mental health awareness episode, as Ro contemplates taking his own life, he is encouraged to phone a LGBTQ+ helpline by his friend Kathleen-Angel McQueen (Kiara Mellor). Frankland plays the helpline call handler Eve, who brings Ro back to a place of safety.

She and the rest of the Hollyoaks writing team hope that plot will remind trans people that support is available, via services designed by and for LGBTQ+ people.

“You don’t have to be suicidal to reach out to a helpline or to reach out to a peer, but [it’s] just a reminder that people are not alone, although things feel bad at the moment,” Frankland added.

“I think what’s important for me in the way that the episode looks at suicidal ideation and trans young people is that it really shows how can you help someone in this moment. And it shows for any young people watching as well, ‘What can I do if I’m feeling like this?’ That felt like the right way to tell this story.”

Ro’s LGBTQ+ helpline scenes will air during Mental Health Awareness Week, which takes place from 12 to 18 May 2025.

Hollyoaks airs Mondays to Wednesdays on Channel 4 streaming from 7am, then on E4 the same night at 7pm. Full episodes are also released on YouTube a week post airing on Channel 4 and E4.

Switchboard’s national LGBTQIA+ support line can be contacted via phone (0800 0119100), email ([email protected]) and live chat.

Suicide is preventable. Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). ​Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.