Lucy Benson is a fictional character from the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

'', played by Kerrie Taylor. Taylor appeared from the first episode on 23 October 1995. Taylor later quit the role with the character leaving in January 2000 when she went travelling. The character's storylines included a heroin addiction. The character has been described as a "good daughter" type who changed becoming a "hopeless addict".

Casting

Taylor quit the role saying "I was scared to leave. I thought I might never work again, but the time was right". Taylor described her time on the serial as "happy" which made her decision to leave "hard". Taylor added that the ''Hollyoaks'' cast felt "like family". Taylor filmed her final scenes around Christmas 1999.

Development

Characterisation

Merle Brown of the '' Daily Record'' labelled Lucy "troubled". Taylor felt the character had "gone through everything" saying she had taken the character from "a good daughter character on a journey to hopeless addict and then to strength again". The character was also labelled "hopeless" and a "junkie" by the ''Daily Record''. The ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' labelled the character a "goody-two-shoes".

Development

Taylor commented on Lucy's heroin addiction saying "it wasn't pleasant. I had this foundation I had to wear called Death Grey. Most foundations have girlie names, like Autumn Dew or Sunrise, but not this". Taylor commented on the storyline saying "For 18 months, I'd go into work and play a heroin addict" which she found "challenging, but it did get to me after a while".

Storylines

Lucy was introduced as part of the Benson family. Lucy begins dating Rob Hawthorne (Warren De Rosa). Lucy is involved in an accident which kills Dermot Ashton (Lauren Beales). Lucy tells the police of Rob's part in Dermot's death. After Lucy and Kurt seek revenge Rob is thrown off a car park roof by his drug dealers. Rob begins a vendetta against the Bensons. Lucy begins a band with Carol Groves (

Natalie Casey Natalie Casey (born 15 April 1980) is a British actress, presenter, narrator and singer. She portrayed Carol Groves in the television show ''Hollyoaks'' (1996–2000) and Donna Henshaw in '' Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps'' (2001– ...

) and Bazil McCourtney (Toby Sawyer). Lucy's younger brother

Ollie Ollie is a given name and a nickname, often as a shortened form of Oliver (given name), Oliver, Olive (given name), Olive, Olympia, Olga (name), Olga or Olivia (given name), Olivia. Variants include Olie, Oli, Oly (disambiguation), Oly and Olly (di ...

(Paul Leyshon) is killed in a car crash. Lucy blames herself for the accident, as she encouraged Kurt to chase after him. Lucy found it difficult to get over Ollie’s death, and ended up turning to Rob for support. He offers Lucy some tranquillisers to get her through difficult times. Lucy becomes addicted and Rob decides to begin giving Lucy heroin. Lucy is put in a coma. Lucy's brother Kurt (

Jeremy Edwards Jeremy Edwards (born 17 February 1971) is an English actor, known for his roles as Kurt Benson in ''Hollyoaks'', Danny Shaughnessy in ''Holby City'' and Mike Taylor in ''Millie Inbetween'', as well as being a regular panellist and guest host ...

) confronts Rob, leaving him stranded in the Atlantic Ocean as revenge. Lucy awakes and finally weans herself off heroin. However, Rob returns claiming to have killed Kurt. He traps Lucy, Lewis Richardson (

Ben Hull Ben Hull (born 8 November 1972) is an English Actor, Director, Filmmaker and Presenter. Actor Hull's first appearance was in 1994 when he appeared in the ITV drama '' Revelations''. He then went on to appear as Martin Wells in Children's ITV s ...

Ruth Osborne Ruth Osborne (also Benson) is a fictional character from the Television in the United Kingdom, British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Terri Dwyer. She first appeared in January 1996 as the cousin of Natasha Andersen (Shebah Ronay) ...

(

Terri Dwyer Teresa "Terri" Dwyer (born 31 July 1973) is a British television presenter and actress, best known for her role as Ruth Osborne in the British soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. She has also presented the ITV home makeover show 60 Minute Makeover. Car ...

) and

Tony Hutchinson Tony Hutchinson is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Nick Pickard. His first appearance on-screen occurred on 23 October 1995, the inaugural episode of the programme, and is the longest-serving ...

(

Nick Pickard Nick Pickard is an English actor. He is known for his portrayal of Tony Hutchinson in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', a role he has held since its first episode in 1995; he remains the longest-serving cast member and, in 2017, won the ...

) in a watertank where they nearly die. Rob tries to set fire to Rory Finnigan's ( James Redmond) bus but is trapped inside, perishing in the fire. Lucy decides that she wants to travel the world and Tony offers to go with her. As Tony became increasingly preoccupied with researching tropical diseases, Lucy began to realise that he really did not want to leave Hollyoaks and told him he should stay in Chester. As Lucy and Tony bid farewell at the airport, Tony promises Lucy that he would wait for her.

Reception

For her portrayal of Lucy, Taylor was nominated for Best Actress at the ''Inside Soap'' Awards of 1998. Taylor was then nominated for Best Dramatic Performance at the 1999 British Soap Awards. While expressing her disinterest, Merle Brown from the ''Daily Record'' did not welcome Lucy's drug habit being a heavily focused upon storyline. Charlie Catchpole of the ''Daily Mirror'' commented on the performances of soap actors giving his opinion on what they should be paid. On Taylor, he said she would be in his bottom paid soap stars saying she deserved £15,000, which if given to Lucy, she would use for "a new silver spoon for her nose. She's tried every drug bar aspirin". In 2018, writing about addiction storylines across British soap operas, Laura Morgan of

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

listed Lucy's drug addiction storyline as one of the eight "darkest" addiction plots to be featured in a soap.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Lucy Hollyoaks characters Television characters introduced in 1995 British female characters in soap operas English female characters in television