Buster Smith's (Nathan Sussex) trial kicks off next week (January 7 onwards) in Hollyoaks, and a number of village residents are coming together in an effort to bring justice to all of his victims. Exactly whether or not Ollie Morgan (Aedan Duckworth) will take to the stand to testify against his former football coach however, remains to be seen.
The trial gets off to a chaotic start when Ollie's father, Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy) threatens to kill Buster despite still being in custody. Testifying against the sexual offender, questions intensify and Luke's temper reaches boiling point.
Brody Hudson (Adam Woodward) also struggles when he's called into court to give evidence against Buster, and whilst he does make it to the stand to testify, he leaves the courtroom before doing anything substantial to help the case due to the pressure. Sienna Blake (Anna Passey) will do her best to encourage him to return, but will she be successful?
Meanwhile, Ollie finds himself offered a substantial amount of money and a chance to play for Barcelona from professional footballer Arlo Watson (Maxim De Villiers); but is told he'll have to leave town and miss out on testifying against Buster if he wants the opportunity.
Mandy Morgan (Sarah Jayne Dunn) and Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson) go to wake him on the first day of the trial, but when they discover he's gone missing, they realise that Buster could be back walking the streets as a free man sooner than anyone in the village would like.
Fortunately, Duckworth has promised that whilst "the journey of these two characters keeps changing... that will all come to an end next week."
He adds: "It’s incredibly important to show that if somebody speaks out about it, there are people who will listen, which will encourage survivors watching the show to speak out."
Hollyoaks continues weekdays at 6.30pm on Channel 4, with First Look episodes weekdays at 7pm on E4. Keep up with the discussion surrounding the storyline using the hashtag #BreakTheSilence on social media.
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