Hollie-Jay Bowes

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Hollie-Jay Bowes
Hollie-Jay Bowes.jpeg
Bowes in 2009
Born
Hollie Jean Bowes

(1989-01-17) 17 January 1989 (age 35)
OccupationActress
Years active2005–present
Television Grange Hill
Hollyoaks
Waterloo Road

Hollie-Jay Bowes (born 17 January 1989) is an English actress, known for her roles as Dawn O'Malley in the BBC drama Grange Hill and Michaela McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks . Since 2023, she has appeared in the BBC drama Waterloo Road as Debs Rafferty.

Contents

Life and career

Bowes' parents changed her name from Billie Jean to Hollie Jean as her father thought she would get bullied at school and be called 'Billie Bowes', and at 13, she changed her name to Hollie-Jay. [1] In 2009, Bowes stated in an interview with Inside Soap that she is a distant relation to Hollyoaks co-star Tony Hirst, who plays Mike Barnes. [2]

On 24 June 2010, Bowes announced on Twitter that had decided to leave Hollyoaks after four years. Producers wrote her out at the earliest opportunity due to her making the announcement without informing the production. [3] In September 2011, Hollie-Jay reprised her role as Michaela McQueen in the series Hollyoaks Later [4] and returned to the main series in October, [5] but departed again in August 2012. [6]

In 2023, Bowes began appearing in the BBC drama Waterloo Road playing suffering mother Debs Rafferty.

Related Research Articles

<i>Hollyoaks</i> British TV soap opera (since 1995)

Hollyoaks is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera Brookside. From 2005 to 2023, episodes have aired on sister channel E4 a day prior to their broadcast on Channel 4. In 2023, Hollyoaks was removed from Channel 4's early evening schedule, but remains on E4 and Channel 4's on demand service with episodes now uploaded to YouTube. At its inception, the soap was targeted towards an adolescent and young adult audience but it has since broadened its appeal to all age groups. Hollyoaks has covered various taboo subjects rarely seen on British television, for which it has received numerous awards. It has won the award for Best British Soap twice, in 2014 and 2019; its first win broke the 15-year tie between rival soap operas EastEnders and Coronation Street. Beginning with a cast of 15 characters, it now has upwards of 50 regular cast members. The longest-serving actor is Nick Pickard, who has portrayed Tony Hutchinson since the first episode.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steph Cunningham</span> UK soap opera character, created 2000

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michaela McQueen</span> UK soap opera character, created 2006

Michaela McQueen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Hollie-Jay Bowes. Michaela was the first of the McQueen family to be seen on-screen in 2006, when she was credited as Michaela Jones. On 8 June 2010, Bowes announced that she had quit the show and would leave in six months. However, it was announced on 24 June 2010 that show bosses had axed Bowes and speedily wrote Michaela out after she spoke about upcoming storylines and her exit on social networking website Twitter. Bowes reprised her role as Michaela in 2011, initially appearing in the fourth series of Hollyoaks Later, before reappearing in the main series. In July 2012, Bowes confirmed she would be leaving Hollyoaks, and her final scenes would air on 31 August 2012.

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Jacqui McQueen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Claire Cooper. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 26 September 2006 and was introduced by series producer Bryan Kirkwood as part of the McQueen family. Cooper has stated that whilst Lucy Allan produced the serial she was not used and that Jacqui had "lost her identity". In 2010 when Paul Marquess took over the role, he recognised she was an under used character and split her apart from the McQueen family, subsequently increasing her role within the show. Jacqui has been portrayed as a "tough ex-con" and is extremely feisty, she often takes on the matriarch role within the McQueens.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niall Rafferty</span> UK soap opera character, created 2007

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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen McQueen</span> UK soap opera character, created 2009

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydia Hart</span> Character from Hollyoaks, created 2009

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riley Costello</span> UK soap opera character, created 2010

Riley Costello is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Rob Norbury. Riley was introduced on 20 July 2010 with the Costello family as part of a cast overhaul of the series. In December 2011, the serial's executive producer Emma Smithwick said that Riley would remain in Hollyoaks despite his family's departure. On 14 September 2012, it was announced Riley was to leave Hollyoaks and Riley was killed off in a shooting during the episode airing 3 October 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitzeee Minniver</span> Fictional character from Hollyoaks

Anne "Mitzeee" Minniver is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Rachel Shenton. The character debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 23 July 2010. Mitzeee was created by series producer Paul Marquess for a different television series which was never commissioned and instead introduced his ideas onto Mitzeee. She is also one of the first characters created in Marquess's 2010 reinvention of Hollyoaks. Mitzeee is a wannabe glamour model and WAG, she is portrayed as being ruthless in achieving her goals and is fame driven. Shenton helped create her backstory and has stated on different occasions that Mitzeee uses femininity to get what she wants. Various media outlets drew comparisons to the character with pop star Cheryl Cole and Mitzeee spells her career name with triple e's because she finds her name plain, a tag Shenton has also agreed with. On 20 December 2012, it was announced that Shenton had left the show and her final scenes aired on 15 February 2013.

Hollyoaks began airing on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 23 October 1995. The show targeted teenagers and initially dramatised the lives of seven teenagers living in Hollyoaks, a fictional suburb in the city of Chester in Cheshire, England.

<i>Hollyoaks Later</i> series 3 Season of television series

The third series of Hollyoaks Later is a British television series and late night spin-off of Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. The series ran on E4 and began on 25 October 2010.

<i>Hollyoaks Later</i> series 4 Season of television series

The fourth series of Hollyoaks Later is a British television series and late night spin-off of Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. The series aired in September 2011 at 10pm. The series revolved around Silas Blissett's search for another murder victim which culminated in the death of Rae Wilson, the stag do of Riley Costello, the hen party of Mercedes McQueen and Ricky Campbell and Duncan Button's trip to fat camp.

References

  1. "Programmes - Most Popular - All 4". Archived from the original on 18 October 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2009.
  2. Inside Soap , 28 July 2009
  3. Published Friday, Jun 25 2010, 00:02 BST (25 June 2010). "Hollie-Jay Bowes sacked from 'Hollyoaks' - Hollyoaks News - Soaps". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. Kilkelly, Daniel (10 June 2011). "'Hollyoaks' return for Michaela McQueen". Digital Spy . (Hachette Filipacchi UK). Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  5. Kilkelly, Daniel (5 September 2011). "'Hollyoaks': Loads of gossip and teasers from the set". Digital Spy . (Hachette Filipacchi UK). Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  6. "Stars in our eyes!". Inside Soap (29). Hearst Magazines UK: 50. 21–27 July 2012.