The following article references coercive control and domestic violence.
Hollyoaks spoilers follow from Tuesday’s episode on Channel 4 streaming, which doesn’t air on E4 until tonight at 7pm.
Hollyoaks has aired a shock stabbing between Cleo McQueen and Abe Fielding in its latest early streaming release.
The first episode following Hollyoaks’ one-year time jump started with the McQueens being sent a postcard revealing Cleo had travelled to Bali following the motorbike crash.
However, a sinister cliffhanger hinted that Cleo wasn’t in Bali at all – it appeared as if she had been kidnapped by her abusive boyfriend Abe.
Tuesday’s (September 17) episode confirmed fans’ worst fears that Abe has been holding Cleo hostage for the past year in a bunker he’d constructed behind his flat.
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Abe had convinced Cleo that she killed his mother Marie and Suzanne Ashworth in the bike crash. Because of this, he claimed Cleo’s family do not want her around.
His twisted reasoning turned out to be a complete lie because viewers learned in Tuesday’s episode that Marie is very much alive.
All the while, Abe has secretly started dating Peri Lomax but ordered her not to publicly reveal their relationship.
Abe’s secretive ways caught up with him in the latest instalment, since his mother Marie figured out that he was dating Peri.
As the news filtered through the village, a horrified Leela ordered Abe to stay away from Peri. Peri stood up for Abe, warning her mum: “If he goes, so do I!”
Peri stormed out of her mother’s house after announcing she would be moving in with her troubled boyfriend.
Abe was terrified about the prospect of Peri figuring out he’d been holding Cleo captive, so he shut down her suggestion of living together.
He convinced Peri she was being unfair to her mum since Ste had just been brought out of a coma. Before Peri went back home, she noticed a pair of women’s clothes draped over one of Abe’s chairs.
In a shocking climax, Abe visited Cleo in his makeshift bunker to off-handedly tell her that Mercedes had been diagnosed with bowel cancer.
Cleo screamed for Abe to let her out so he could go see Mercedes, but Abe insisted her outburst was proof she couldn’t be trusted.
Cleo acted calm and compliant as Abe returned later to check on her. Abe callously insisted there was “not a thing” Cleo could do to influence whether Mercedes lives or dies.
Abe went in for a hug, only for Cleo to produce a shard of a broken CD to stab him in the back. Cleo rushed out of the bunker as a horrified Abe revealed the blood gushing from his wound.
Will Cleo successfully escape?
Hollyoaks airs on Mondays-Wednesdays with its Channel 4 streaming premiere at 7am, then an E4 broadcast the same night at 7pm. Full episodes are also released on YouTube a week after their Channel 4 release.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage
Organisations including Women’s Aid and Refuge can provide further support and information on coercive control or coercive behaviour.
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