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Hollyoaks is a British television soap opera that was first broadcast on 23 October 1995. The following is a list of characters that first appear in the show in 2021, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the show's executive producer Bryan Kirkwood, or by his successor, Lucy Allan. Brad King (Tom Benedict Knight) made his debut in January as the boyfriend of Trish Minniver (Denise Welch). Shaq Qureshi (Omar Malik), the step-cousin of Sami Maalik (Rishi Nair), made his first appearance in March, as well as Fergus Collins (Robert Beck). AJ and Curtis Pritchard also made guest appearances as Marco and Jacob, respectively. Timmy Simons (Sam Tutty) debuted in June as somebody working for Fergus. July saw the arrival of Becky Quentin (Katie McGlynn), a friend of Diane Hutchinson (Alex Fletcher). Cathy Shipton joined the cast in August as Lydia Smith, the aunt of Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy). She was followed by Ali Shahzad (Raji James), the father of Shaq. After Allan's episodes began airing, she announced her plans to introduce numerous black characters to the series. These include Nate Denby, now Saul Reeves (Chris Charles), Olivia Bradshaw (Emily Burnett), Pearl Anderson (Dawn Hope) and DeMarcus Westwood (Tomi Ade). In October, Natalie Anderson joined the soap as police detective Lexi Calder and Serena Chen-Williams joined the soap as a love interest for Sid Sumner (Billy Price). In November, Ethan Williams (Matthew James-Bailey) and his girlfriend Maya Harkwell (Ky Discala) debuted as part of a storyline where the pair kidnap Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson). In December, Serena's family, the Chen-Williams, are introduced and became the first East Asian family in a soap opera. The family includes Honour (Vera Chok) and her husband Dave (Dominic Power), as well as their children, Sam Chen-Williams (Matthew McGivern), Lizzie Chen-Williams (Lily Best) and Mason Chen-Williams (Frank Kauer). Additionally, multiple other characters appear throughout the year. Brad King Brad King, played by Tom Benedict Knight, made his first appearance in episode 5506, originally broadcast on 18 January 2021. The casting was announced on 5 January 2021, while Denise Welch teased the character in an interview on 11 November 2020. Brad is the boyfriend of Trish Minniver (Welch) and will accompany her into the village when she returns. Brad's appearance will come as a shock to Trish's daughter, Maxine Minniver (Nikki Sanderson). Brad has been described as both handsome and manipulative. Speaking about his casting, Knight said: "I am really thrilled and excited to have joined the Hollyoaks family. It has been awesome on set, fast-paced, and never a dull moment working with the great cast and crew. Working with Denise and Nikki has been absolutely fantastic, both are super talented actors who are a delight to work with, and have had me in stitches non-stop! Brad is definitely here to stir things up in Hollyoaks... Get ready for a lot of bad behaviour and broken hearts. There's a new BAD boy in the village..." Shaq Qureshi Shaq Qureshi, played by Omar Malik, made his first appearance on 8 March 2021. Shaq is introduced as the step-cousin of established character Sami Maalik (Rishi Nair). Justin Harp of Digital Spy wrote that Shaq will have a "memorable entrance in the village" when he arrives in a wedding Sherwani after ditching his bride at the altar. Harp noted that the "charming and cunning" character will have make many characters in the village "swoon". He hinted that Shaq may be "key" in helping Sami to realise his girlfriend Verity Hutchinson (Eva O'Hara) is pretending to be pregnant, and noted that their reunion will be "chaotic". Malik voiced his joy to be joining Hollyoaks, and especially being part of the Maalik family unit. He stated that he is excited to be "bringing energy, charm and mischief to the Hollyoaks village". He commended his co-stars and crew members, whom he noted "went above and beyond to make me feel comfortable and relaxed", and that he loves working on Hollyoaks due to the "proper family vibe". Malik added: "I hope everyone enjoys watching Shaq, just as much as I enjoy playing him!" Talking about his character, Malik explained that Shaq "thrives on danger" but that he is vulnerable and has "bitten off more than he can chew". He adds: "Underneath the confident and cool exterior, there's a delicate fragility that slowly glimmers the more you get to know him" and hinted that Shaq has secrets which will be explored in the future. He explained that the backstory of Shaq involves him having been in trouble and "bringing shame on his family", meaning he is considered a "liability" by his relatives. He pressures him to "make something of himself and prove everyone wrong". Malik notes that people in the village begin to realise that "there's more brewing behind Shaq's cheeky smile", and that he "catches the eye" of an unnamed McQueen woman. Malik opined that his character enjoys to socialise with women, and that although he enjoys "playing the field", he is a "gentleman at heart", and voiced his wishes for a love interest to "tame his wild and flirtatious spirit". Speaking about filming with the "mystery McQueen", Malik stated, without giving details on the actress or character, that he enjoys working with her. Due to joining Hollyoaks during the COVID-19 pandemic, Malik was unable to meet all of his co-stars in person, and had to use Zoom in order to communicate with the cast members. Despite this, he labelled it "a dream come true" to join the soap, and recalled memories from his childhood where he would watch the soap after school, adding that his younger relatives are "avid fans" of Hollyoaks. On 20 January 2023, it was confirmed that Malik was exiting the role. Shaq’s final scenes aired on 24 January 2023. After initially being introduced as the nephew of Misbah Maalik (Harvey Virdi), he later learns that he is her son and that his father is Ali Shahzad (Raji James). He forms a connection with Ali until Misbah reveals that Ali raped her. Malik felt that his character wanted a dad badly and felt that Ali wanted a relationship with his son, but only for the purpose of manipulating him. On the revelation, Malik said that Shaq is broken and feels that he no longer knows himself. He described Shaq's journey as "a rollercoaster of emotions" ranging from anger and sadness to fragility. Following a brutal attack on Ali, Malik opined that his character is capable of attacking him. Malik explained: "If he's pushed into a corner, he's willing to do anything. At one point, Shaq says to Yazz, 'If I see Ali, I'll kill him!' He's put it out there, and I think he's willing to do it. So yes, he's very capable of hurting his dad." Fergus Collins Fergus Collins, played by Robert Beck, made his first appearance on 17 March 2021. The character and casting was announced on 9 March 2021. Fergus is the ex-boyfriend of Trish Minniver (Denise Welch) and a forme.... Discover the Ethan Williams popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ethan Williams books.