Hollyoaks to feature gay Pride parade

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks is to feature a Pride parade for the first time.

The long-running show, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary next month, revealed the plans for a series of special episodes centring around the parade.

The story will see long-running character Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard), who has starred in the soap since its first episode in 1995, hold a ‘Hollypride’ gay pride parade.

A source said: “Tony has been at the heart of the soap for the last 20 years so it was only right that he was at the centre of the big 20th anniversary episodes.

“It’s going to be a huge week with the stunt, the reveal and a bit of humour at Hollypride.”

The big week for the soap will also feature the reveal of the mysterious Gloved Hand serial killer.

The show’s producer Bryan Kirkwood admitted last month that the show “made mistakes” with a storyline about a gay asylum seeker from Nigeria.

The storyline from 2014 featured John Omole as Vincent Elegba, who was persecuted for being gay, and later the subject of homophobic violence at the hands of immigration officers.

Kirkwood said: “We did a story, with our serious hat on, about a Nigerian asylum seeker – a gay lad – who’d left Nigeria seeking asylum in Britain… and we disappeared so far up our own arse.”

Watch a trailer for the episodes below.