Hollyoaks boss reveals how Sun’s Soaps Editor sparked supervillain Clare Devine’s return

HOLLYOAKS boss Hannah Cheers has revealed what sparked off iconic supervillain Clare Devine’s return – and it turns out it’s me.

The executive producer had just been announced as the Channel 4 soap’s new boss and was in full planning mode for the show’s changes when I ran into her at an awards show last summer.

And like I do every time I see a soap boss – I used my time wisely by asking/demanding/begging for the return of my favourite characters.

But for the time ever it actually happened.

I sat down with Hannah on set earlier this month for a set visit where she revealed how our conversation in the hotel bar had sparked off the most iconic comeback since Kim Tate popped back to Emmerdale.

She told me: “It was you! It was the conversation we had in the hotel in Manchester that started it off.

“We were talking and you said, when are you going to bring Clare back? And I was like, oh my god, it’s a million dollar question, everyone talks about it.

“And I said to you, because at the time we didn’t have any plans, because obviously we were working towards the transition, and I was trying to filter people out, and trying to re-engineer stories, and trying to make sense of all of that, and knew that it wasn’t possible right there and then.

“But the interesting thing that I said to you was, tell me what it is about Clare that is so important to you, and so iconic, and you said, because she’s the only character who actually doesn’t give a hell about what she does. She enjoys being evil and so I took inspiration from that with Grace’s story.”

She added: “In terms of Clare, you know, again, I took on board massively what you said about she enjoys being evil and we’re never going to come away from that because she does.

“However, in bringing Clare in 2025, what I spoke to Gemma about right at the beginning was ‘I’m not doing this and just bringing in the third iteration of like Clare that is two dimensional and that only has that layer and level to her.

“Not that she didn’t in the past, but she, as you said, she rarely had true, true feeling and true kind of like selflessness. She had nothing, nothing selfless about her.

“And she doesn’t now, except now she has a reason to have experienced and make herself vulnerable and be susceptible to that.

“So we do see a different layer. She doesn’t like showing it.”

Viewers know that Clare’s return has seen her arrive with a child – Tori – who she and DI Banks effectively kidnapped from her grandfather Dodger.

“Clare absolutely sees herself as that child’s mother,” Hannah added.

“And that’s also what’s quite enjoyable. And it’s so galling to everyone else in the community. So that has given her the chink in the armour.”

And Hannah also revealed that Clare will play a big part in the 30th anniversary in October – and clash with Tori’s great-grandfather – serial killer Jez Blake.

“Well, yes, obviously we’ve got two kind of Hollyoaks titans here,” she teased.

“We’ve got kind of very iconic Hollyoaks faces. And it’s not an accident that they are both in the show in the run up to the 30th anniversary.”

There will also be a classic Hollyoaks stunt for the 30th – which won’t be limited to one episode – more a celebration over the entire month of October.

Hannah said: “You can’t do a Hollyoaks commemoration without some kind of spectacle. So there will be a stunt.”

And it’s not just the Blakes that Clare has to deal with – her original, tiny nemesis Tom Cunningham is back to take her on.

“How could we possibly bring in Clare Devine and not have her original nemesis in the show?” Hannah laughed.

“Again, it’s a kind of nod to the past and celebration of all things Hollyoaks.

“Tom has the upper hand to start with, which I think is what’s so surprising about this story. And there’s a surprise reveal of how we first finds Tom.”