Hollyoaks' Sid Sumner is to suffer a life-changing injury after taking ketamine.
Billy Price as Sid
The character - who is played by Billy Price - will be rushed to hospital following the drug binge, which comes after he turned to crime months ago and has been dealing drugs to students in the village alongside school pal Juliet Quinn (Niamh Blackshaw).
Billy said: "Sid still is and may always be head over heels for Juliet, although she doesn’t see him in that way. With Juliet climbing the ranks, their involvement within county lines is dug deeper. The stakes are higher, and the consequences are dearer.
"Sid always seems to get himself into the worst situations, and can never catch a break, however, as we have seen over the past few months, Sid always sticks up for the people he cares for, although this time, his actions have consequences, which will change his life forever."
Sid and Juliet have also been recruiting younger children to deal drugs, on the instructions of Sid's cousin Jordan Price (Connor Calland), as part of the soap's hard-hitting county lines plot.
Becky Fedia, Disrupting Exploitation Programme Manager at The Children’s Society - which has been advising the show on the county lines storyline - said: "Criminals exploiting children put them at enormous risk, cynically grooming them, controlling them using threats and violence, and exposing them to the dangerous effects of drugs.
"It’s important that 'Hollyoaks' is depicting the stark reality of child exploitation, and the traumatic impact it can have on young lives.
"But there is hope of a brighter future for young people like Sid and Juliet if we all play our part in looking for signs children may be at risk, reporting any concerns, and understanding that they need help as victims of exploitation and are not simply troublemakers."