Hollyoaks teases new love triangle for Luke, Mandy - and Cindy
Gary Lucy returns to the show full time and gets a surprising love interest
Gary Lucy returns to Hollyoaks as a full-time cast member in August when his character Luke Morgan is released from prison, and is thrust straight into a surprising new romance with old friend Cindy Cunningham (Stephanie Waring).
Luke has been serving time since autumn 2018 for assaulting Scott Drinkwell (Ross Adams) who he mistakenly thought was abusing his son Ollie Morgan (Aedan Duckworth) before the truth about his grooming by predatory football coach Buster Smith (Nathan Sussex) was exposed. Off screen, Lucy had time off for the stage tour of The Full Monty musical, but fitted in a handful of Hollyoaks appearances during his alter ego's sentence.
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While Luke was behind bars his ex-wife Mandy Morgan (Sarah Jayne Dunn) gave birth to their son DJ, who everyone apart from Ollie thinks is Darren Osborne's (Ashley Taylor Dawson) baby as the conflicted teen tampered with the results over fears his recovering alcoholic father wasn't up to the job.
When Luke returns to the village later this summer, will Ollie reveal the truth?
"There are secrets that will be dug up in the weeks after Luke comes back," said executive producer Bryan Kirkwood. "And then there's Cindy, who might well set her sights on him. They've been in each other's orbit for more than 20 years but have never really spent much time together.
"Luke sees her as Mandy's annoying little stepsister and Cindy has a pretty low opinion of him - but we think Cindy and Luke might be one to watch…"
Surprisingly in the romantic merry-go-round of interconnected relationships between Hollyoaks' line-up of heritage characters, 'the originals', Cindy and Luke have never been involved. His on/off relationship with childhood sweetheart Mandy was wrecked by his drinking which drove her into the arms of his best mate Darren, while Cindy has been unlucky in love for decades and tragically lost fourth husband Dirk Savage in summer 2018.
But with Luke's addiction demons and sinful Cindy's maneating reputation - and three of her four exes six feet under - is it a good idea for these two to get together? And how will Mandy react? Despite having settled down with Darren, could seeing Luke with another woman, her oldest friend and stepsister, reignite her feelings for him? If she knew Luke was DJ's real dad, could that change her outlook on Luke moving on?
Kirkwood confirmed to RadioTimes.com in a recent interview that the originals gang will be at the centre of this year's upcoming stunt - with Cindy and Luke's affair paving the way for some explosive drama to play out against the backdrop to the annual carnage…
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