The Cunningham family are a fictional family in the long-running Channel 4soap opera, Hollyoaks. The family were one of the original families introduced in 1995, debuting on the first episode of Hollyoaks. They originally consisted of Gordon Cunningham (Bernard Latham) and his ex-wife Angela (Liz Stooke), and their children: Dawn (Lisa Williamson), Jude (Davinia Taylor), Cindy (Hayley Fairclough/Laura Crossley/Stephanie Waring) and Max (Ben Sheriff/Matt Littler).
Subsequently, the family has seen more tragedy than happiness. Their storylines include Gordon and Angela divorcing, Dawn's affair with older Jack Osborne (Jimmy McKenna), her leukemia which leads to her death, Cindy's teenage pregnancy, Jude being in trouble with the police, the death of Gordon and his second wife Helen Richardson (Kathryn George) in a car accident and the death of Max on his wedding day to Steph Dean (Carley Stenson). In 2015, Gordon’s son Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins) was involved in a underaged sex storyline, which saw him become a father to Steph Cunningham-Lomax with his girlfriend Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell). Other storylines include Cindy's bigamous marriage to Dirk Savage (David Kennedy) when she was still married to Mac Nightingale (David Easter), and had their son Alfie (Richard Linnell), Cindy’s relationship with Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy), and dealing with bereavement when Luke dies of an accident caused by frontotemporal dementia
As of 2023, Cindy and Tom, alongside their children Hilton Cunningham and Steph, remain the only blood Cunninghams on the show.
History
Gordon was an only child. He had a cousin, Benny, who was a criminal and bad influence. Gordon married Angela, the pair had three daughters, Dawn, Cindy and Jude and one son, Max. Gordon and Angela split up before 1995. Gordon then found love in Helen Richardson, the pair married in 1999 and Helen gave birth to Tom Cunningham. The family, over the years, has been surrounded by death and heartbreak, Dawn died of leukaemia in 1997, Lee Stanley, father of Holly, also died in 1997. In 2004, Gordon suffered a heart attack whilst driving Helen and Tom. He crashed the car, which killed himself and Helen. In 2008, Max was run over and killed moments after marrying Steph Dean. Other relatives have also died. Grace Hutchinson, step-granddaughter of Gordon, died in 2006 of SIDS. Gordon's stepson, Lewis committed suicide in 2001. The Cunningham family have also owned several businesses since the beginning of Hollyoaks. Gordon became the owner of video shop, Got it Taped and later supermarket, Drive 'n' Buy. Gordon also became Councillor of Chester. After Gordon's death, Max inherited Drive 'n' Buy, which he sold to Neville Ashworth. Got it Taped was then sold to Tony Hutchinson. Max also owned part of The Loft before selling it to Clare Devine and also opened juice bar, MOB's (short for Max and OB's) with OB. After Max's death, Steph took over Max's half of MOB's and ran it with Cindy.
In Hollyoaks
Before 1995, Dawn had begun an affair with best friend Ruth Osborne's father, Jack. Dawn got pregnant and gave baby Beth up for adoption to the Johnson family and had brought her up as their own. When Ruth found out, she did not want to see Dawn again. On her sixteenth birthday, Cindy slept with Lee Stanley, she then discovered she was pregnant. Max had struck a double act with Sam "OB" O'Brien. The pair were always involved in money making schemes. Dawn and James "Jambo" Bolton discovered Beth needed a kidney transplant. After a number of failed donors, Dawn told Jack of his illegitimate daughter. Jack was found to be a match and saved Beth's life. Dawn and Jambo then kissed after realising their feelings Dawn began feeling unwell and, with Jambo, she visited the doctor, who diagnosed her with leukaemia. On Christmas 1997, Jambo proposed to Dawn, who then died after her battle with leukaemia, the same day Cindy gave birth to Holly.
Cindy became depressed at being a 16-year-old mother and contemplated smothering her baby, however she could not go through with it and realised she did love Holly after all. She found love with Sean Tate; however, he hated Holly and began hurting her. After social services found out Holly was being abused, Cindy decided to leave Britain for abroad. On her way to the airport, she ran over Anna Green and left her for dead. In 2001, Cindy then had an affair with Mac Nightingale (David Easter) who recently about to get separated with his wife Marine Nightingale (Lynsey Anthony), and was pregnant with his child, and named him Teddy, but she given to Mac so her son will have a good future, so Mac and Marine pretend to adopted him and renamed him Alfie Nightingale. A debt-ridden Jude began stealing cars with her father's cousin Benny to pay off the debts. After months of stealing, the police came after Jude. Realising she could not go to jail, Jude donned a dark wig and used Dawn's passport to flee the country. Gordon began a relationship with Helen Richardson, who discovered she was pregnant. Gordon then proposed and the pair married. She then gave birth to Tom
Max became depressed over his stepbrother Lewis's death and decided to make the most of his life, which separated himself from OB. On a cliff trip, Max, OB, Ben Davies, Kristian Hargreaves, Jamie Nash and Theo Sankofa were climbing when more tragedy struck, leaving Jamie and Theo dead. Cindy returned with Holly in 2002, where she scammed Max and OB out of money before leaving once again. OB found out Helen was having an affair with Tony Hutchinson. He told Gordon who was heartbroken. Helen left Gordon but eventually returned to him. 2004 seen the deaths of Gordon and Helen, who died after Gordon had a heart attack at the wheel of a car and crashed it. Five-year-old Tom was put to stay with sister, Mandy, however, he soon moved in with Max and OB. At the funeral, Cindy returned for a brief stint, however, Jude did not.
Max bought part of The Loft nightclub. He made OB a co-manager. They hired an events organiser named Clare Devine, both Max and OB fell for her. Max began a relationship with Clare and asked her to move in. Mel Burton caught Clare sleeping with Sean Kennedy. OB told Max of this but Max took Clare's side and refused to believe it. He then proposed to Clare. Clare poisoned Max's mind into him believing that OB could not accept their relationship. As a result, Max and OB's friendship was over. As Clare planned to leave with Max's money, OB burst into the church and told him so. Max did not believe him and ended up marrying Clare, who thought up a new plan to kill Max and inherit the money. Max had a heart attack and Clare began to tamper with his medication in the hope he would have another and die. For Christmas, Clare took Max and Tom to a secluded cottage near a lake, there she put Tom's coat in the lake, which made Max jump in. Max then realised Tom was not in the lake. As he began to drown, OB turned up. Clare tried to tell him it was an accident, however, OB punched her and rescued Max. Clare was arrested, however was released. She then threatened to kill Max if he did not sign over The Loft. Realising Tom would be left alone, Max agreed and signed the deed.
Max became one of five named suspects for the attempted murder of Clare. Max was questioned but the police released him. Tom was put into foster care after Clare manipulated both Tom and social services. On the night she was pushed, Max had run into The Loft and publicly threatened to kill Clare. When Clare returned from the hospital, Max went into her house and poisoned her food as revenge, however she did not eat it. Max threatened her to tell the social services the truth, which she did. Clare supposedly left Hollyoaks but secretly kidnapped Katy Fox. Max, Warren and Justin went after her. Clare ordered Warren to kill Justin after it was revealed he had pushed her. They pretended to do so. Clare then ordered Max to kick "Justin's body", however, he could not because he was too nice. Clare sped off in the car with Katy and ended up going over a quarry, Max jumped in to save her but she disappeared beneath the water. Max confided in Steph over his guilt of letting Clare "die". The pair started a relationship and finally got engaged. At this time, Cindy returned to Hollyoaks with Holly after escaping her abusive ex-boyfriend. She began staying with Max, Tom and Steph. After marrying Steph, Max, along with OB and Tom went to get a present for Steph. On their way, Max saw Tom playing on the road and then Niall Rafferty, who then drove off, in his car. Max pushed Tom out of the way of the car, but was hit himself. OB and Tom held Max as he began to die, Steph came running over in her wedding dress just as he died. Cindy, Angela and Holly attend the funeral of Max, except for Jude, who was still wanted in Hollyoaks in ten years.
Mandy decided to let Tom stay with OB, who was moving to London to be with his girlfriend Summer. However, Tom realised Steph would be on her own if he left and decided to stay with her, she then became his legal guardian. Steph began a relationship with Niall, which Cindy and Mandy frowned upon, however their relationship ended after Steph realised she was not over Max. Cindy discovered Mandy was having an affair with Warren and threatened to tell his fiancée, Louise Summers. Warren told Cindy that if she did, he would hurt Holly. Cindy then started seeing Darren Osborne until he was sent to prison, where she started seeing Rhys Ashworth. Holly did not get along with Rhys to begin with but slowly they grew to like each other. Holly was then upset when Cindy split up from Rhys and returned to Darren, who had been released from prison. Steph took a holiday to Scotland with Craig Dean and Tom. There, Niall returned for revenge and kidnapped Tom. However, he ended up killing himself. Cindy split up with Darren after it was discovered he got Jake Dean to confess to Sean Kennedy's murder. Cindy then fell for Tony Hutchinson and they started going out. Cindy became jealous when she discovered Darren had drunkenly married Hannah Ashworth. She and Darren then decided to con both Tony and Hannah by stealing money from Tony and getting their hands on The Dog from Hannah.
Due to being seen as the Hollyoaks original family, members of the Cunninghams have been popular, especially Max and Gordon. In 1997, Davinia Taylor was axed from her role as Jude for time-keeping issues. She departed in 1998. In 2008, it was reported that Taylor was to return to the show.[1]
On 9 May 2008, it was announced that Matt Littler had quit his role as Max and would leave in the late Summer after almost 13 years of playing the character.[2] In a 2008 episode of T4, Littler reprised his role as Max in a dream sequence that seen him reunited with on-screen father, Bernard Latham (Gordon) in heaven.
Related Research Articles
Max Cunningham is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Ben Sheriff from 1995 to 1997, and Matt Littler from 1997 to 2008. He first appeared on 6 November 1995, and Littler took over the role in September 1997. In 2008, Max was the second longest running character in Hollyoaks, after Tony Hutchinson. In May 2008, it was announced that Littler had decided to leave the show and would depart in July 2008.
Jack Osborne is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Jimmy McKenna. He first appeared on 18 November 1996 and is the second longest serving character in the serial. He was introduced as part of the Osborne family along with son Darren and wife Celia who joined daughter Ruth to live in Hollyoaks village. His storylines have included an affair with Dawn Cunningham, four marriages and an insurance scam which saw him fake his own death. In his later years, Jack was more commonly known as the landlord of the show's pub, The Dog in the Pond.
Steph Roach is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Carley Stenson. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 8 March 2000. Steph was introduced into the serial by executive producer Jo Hallows. In 2009 Stenson decided to quit, but the then producer Lucy Allan convinced her to stay to play out a dramatic storyline. The announcement of her departure was made public in June 2010. Stenson's fellow cast members have described her as a "Hollyoaks legend" because of her lengthy duration.
Mandy Richardson is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Sarah Jayne Dunn. She first appeared on 7 October 1996 and has been involved in various storylines, including dealing with sexual abuse while she was a child by her father Dennis, the suicide of her brother Lewis, and an on-off relationship with Tony Hutchinson before the couple married. Mandy had a miscarriage causing her to hit Tony. Mandy and Tony had a daughter together who they named Grace, only for her to die from sudden infant death syndrome. This led to the character and Dunn's exit from the serial in 2006. Dunn made a brief return in 2007 before making a return for six months in 2008. Dunn reprised her role as Mandy in 2010; in September 2011, Dunn announced her departure from the soap, and Mandy made her last appearance on 2 September 2011 before departing off-screen. Dunn later returned to her role in the sixth series of Hollyoaks Later in October 2013. In June 2017, it was announced that Dunn had reprised the role again and that Mandy would appear from July alongside Luke Morgan, played by Gary Lucy. Mandy returned on 26 July 2017. In November 2021, it was announced that Dunn's contract with Hollyoaks had been terminated due to starting an OnlyFans; viewers of the soap criticised the decision and Dunn herself voiced her disappointment with the production team. Her final scenes aired on 27 December 2021, and Mandy was given an off-screen departure on 31 January 2022.
Tony Hutchinson is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Nick Pickard. His first appearance on-screen occurred on 23 October 1995, the inaugural episode of the programme, and is the longest-serving character in the soap. The character was created by Phil Redmond, as one of several main characters for the show.
Mel Burton is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Hollyoaks, played by actress Cassie Powney. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 23 September 2003. Powney joined the cast along with her twin Connie Powney, who plays Mel's twin sister Sophie Burton. They auditioned for the roles six months after deciding they should stop putting themselves forward for twin roles. Mel was introduced along with Joe Spencer and Robbie Flynn, as new students attending Hollyoaks College. The character's family were introduced a month later. Mel is characterised as being clever, introverted and more controlled than her sister.
Clare Devine is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by actresses Gemma Bissix and Samantha Rowley. Bissix reprised the role in 2009 for the culmination of Warren Fox and Justin Burton's storylines. She later returned to the show in 2013. Clare was killed-off in October 2013, and Bissix said that it would allow Hollyoaks to develop other villainous characters. Bissix has won three British Soap Awards for her portrayal of Clare, and has been named one of the best British soap opera characters.
Tom Cunningham is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Ellis Hollins. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 28 December 1999. With Tom being a young child for most of his tenure, his early years featured minimal storylines, including the numerous death of his family, being abused by Clare Devine and having various guardians including Steph Cunningham and Jack and Frankie Osborne. However, a turning point came for Tom when it was announced that his girlfriend, Peri Lomax would fall pregnant, and deal with Peri's subsequent decision to give their baby away for adoption. Other storylines have also included his friendships with Nico Blake and Dylan Jenkins and his relationships with Peri and his foster sister Jade Albright.
Sam "O.B." O'Brien is a fictional character in the long-running Channel 4 British television soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Darren Jeffries. He debuted on-screen on 6 October 1997 before leaving on 26 February 2008. He later made a brief return in July 2008 before leaving on 11 July 2008. He returned on screen in November 2016. Whilst on the show, O.B.'s storylines revolved around his friendship with Max Cunningham and several relationships. The character has been described as iconic and is most notable for his "classic comedy duo" status with Max. Jefferies was nominated for several awards for his time on the show. During a Hollyoaks live video in October 2016, it was revealed Darren Jeffries would be returning to the role after 8 years away. O.B returned on 17 November 2016 and made his last appearance on 2 January 2017.
James "Jambo" Bolton is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Will Mellor. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 23 October 1995. Jambo was one of the show's original characters. Mellor left the cast in 1998. In 2004, Mellor reprised his role briefly for a Christmas special episode.
Gordon Cunningham is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Bernard Latham. He first appeared in March 1996, and departed on 16 February 2004 when he died of a heart attack following a car crash. He last appeared for a brief return on 11 July 2008 during a dream sequence broadcast on T4.
Helen Cunningham is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Kathryn George. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 20 January 1997. Helen was centric to several storylines including her marriage with Gordon Cunningham, dealing with the suicide of her son Lewis Richardson and her daughter Mandy Richardson's abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, Dennis Richardson. Producers also created an advanced maternal age storyline for the character, where she becomes pregnant with Gordon's child and gives birth to Tom Cunningham. In 2003, writers featured Helen in an infidelity story with Tony Hutchinson. Helen and Tony, who is younger engage in a sexual affair which nearly ruins her on-screen partnership with Gordon.
Dawn Cunningham is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Lisa Williamson. Williamson was cast as one of the original characters on Hollyoaks in 1995, and was the first member of the Cunningham family to arrive in the village, before the introduction of her family. However, she left in 1997 when the character died following a battle with leukemia.
Cindy Cunningham is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Stephanie Waring. She made her first on-screen appearance on 13 November 1995, originally played by Laura Crossley, as the youngest daughter of Gordon and Angela Cunningham. A year after her first appearance, Crossley quit the serial later that year and the role was recast to Waring who appeared from November 1996 to November 2000. Waring reprised the role briefly in 2002 and 2004 before returning as a full-time character in June 2008, reintroduced by series producer Bryan Kirkwood. In 2010, the character was temporarily written out for Waring's maternity leave. She returned to filming in January 2011 and returned to screens on 9 March 2011.
Niall Rafferty is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Barry Sloane. He first appeared during an episode broadcast on 3 December 2007. Former Brookside actor Sloane was cast as the "mysterious" hairdresser Niall and was introduced by the series' producer Bryan Kirkwood. During Sloane's portrayal of Niall on-screen, he was central to a storyline involving the already-established McQueen family and it was revealed Niall was the illegitimate son of Myra McQueen. The storyline featured Niall seek revenge on the McQueens, which concluded in highly advertised episodes featuring Niall kidnapping his siblings and causing the death of his half-sister Tina Reilly. Niall was portrayed by upcoming actor Devon Jackson, the older brother of Hollyoaks actor Kieron Richardson, in flashback scenes depicting Niall's childhood.
Holly Cunningham is a fictional character from the long-running Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, most recently portrayed by Amanda Clapham.
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