Yahoo News Hollyoaks confirms new issue-based story for Joel Dexter in special episode
Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Hollyoaks has confirmed more details about a special episode where Joel Dexter begins an issue-based story.
The soap has teamed with director Bim Ajadi, who is deaf, and writer Jonathan Boam, who is neurodivergent, to create an episode specifically about the experiences of people who identify as deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent (DDN). Diabetes UK and the BAFTA award-winning organisation TripleC also consulted on the stories.
In an episode called ‘What’s Your Normal’, Joel will learn that he has Type 1 Diabetes — a condition that actor Rory Douglas-Speed has lived with since he was a child.
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In other story strands, Maxine takes a stand for her daughter Minnie when the child is told she won't be allowed to take swimming lessons like her classmates because she has Down’s syndrome.
Maxine's first instinct is to sue the swimming centre, until attorney Lacey shares that there's another way to resolve the situation, after facing similar discrimination in her own youth.
This specific story strand is modelled on the true story of Shauna Hogan, a Special Olympian set to appear in the episode with cast members Nikki Sanderson (Maxine) and Eva Lorente (Minnie).
Elsewhere in the episode, Oscar Osborne and Brooke Hathaway realise that Yazz Maalik is struggling on the job. As they try to support her, Yazz explains that she stopped wearing her hearing aids after a bad joke in the workplace.
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Yazz will decide to put her hearing aids back in once she hears from Brooke about their own experience with autism.
Alongside this very special episode, Hollyoaks is also launching a digital series focusing on the stories of eight people in the DDN community who work on the show.
Fans will hear more from cast members Annabelle Davis (Lacey), Ellie Henry (Freya) and Rory Douglas-Speed (Joel) about the importance of representation for the DDN community.
Hollyoaks will also introduce staff members like director Bim Ajadi to talk about the process of working on the show as a deaf person, while writer Jon Boam shares how being neurodivergent helps spark his creativity.
Costume trainee Aslan Herzen will open up about the ways neurodivergent people experience life differently, whereas script editor Laura Halligan speaks about eliminating barriers in the entertainment industry.
Junior Publicist Bekie Boyd will speak about the social model of disability, which involves the ways people are disabled by barriers (both physical and institutional barriers) in society, not by their impairment or difference.
"People’s perception of disability is that they can’t do this and they can’t do that, or they’ve got a fear of not wanting to say the wrong thing or offending anyone, but what we need to change is just to stop people having fear of approaching people who are disabled," director Bim Ajadi says in the series.
The ‘What’s Your Normal’ episode of Hollyoaks premieres on E4 on Friday, June 30 and then on Channel 4 the following Monday, alongside the digital series.
Hollyoaks streams first online via Channel 4, with new episodes dropping each weekday morning. The show airs Mondays to Fridays at 6.30pm on Channel 4, and at 7pm on E4.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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