Sienna Blake’s (Anna Passey) world is going to be turned upside down in Hollyoaks next week when she makes a discovery that will change everything – and fans are not happy.
The much-loved favourite, as viewers know, was left in shock earlier this year when she discovered that she had an uncle she knew nothing about in the form of Patrick’s twin Jeremy, who is the spitting image of her departed dad.
Jeremy Sheffield, who played the chilling Patrick for four years, has returned to the Channel 4 soap to play the role of Jeremy – also known as Jez – who, despite his claims to be a good person, is every bit as villainous as his twin.
It took Sienna quite some time to allow Jeremy into her life but, despite her reservations, she agreed to give him a chance and has since forged quite a strong bond with him.
But new spoilers for next week confirm another huge twist in the tale, with Martha (Sherrie Hewson) set to drop the father of all bombshells on Sienna, informing her that Jeremy is her biological dad – not Patrick.
The storyline, which is the second major retcon this month after Blue’s identity reveal, has been received with a negative response by longtime fans of the show, who recognise that Patrick’s influence on – and his relationship with – Sienna was largely responsible for moulding her into the legendary soap stalwart that she is today.
The character development and growth that Sienna has undergone in subsequent years, reducing her scheming ways to become a much more human and well-rounded character – though without losing her dark edge – is largely due to her realisation that Patrick, despite how much she adored him, was simply not a good man.
Jeremy retroactively being made Sienna’s father risks negating some of this stellar character and background work, which appears to be fans’ primary concern about the storyline – and that’s before you factor in timeline inconsistencies with what was already established about the Blake clan’s history.
‘It really makes no sense and I don’t understand how any of this works,’ said one Metro reader of the upcoming twist, claiming that the show is ‘messing the whole family around way too much’.
‘I can’t lie I hate this storyline with a passion,’ exclaimed another upset fans.
Harper, meanwhile, noted that they could’ve potentially understood such a twist if Jeremy was a good person and a far cry from Patrick – but since he’s just as villainous they can’t see the reasoning behind it.
‘this would add a whole new layer of tragedy to Sienna’s life if Jeremy was a good person but from what I can tell he’s practically the same as Patrick so i really don’t understand the point of this,’ they said.
Josi echoed these very sentiments, saying: ‘so they’re really going for the jeremy is sienna’s father twist. not a fan of major character history being rewritten like this. sienna being patrick’s daughter is integral to her whole character journey. where is the point in replacing one abusive dad with another?’
X/Twitter user meIanieowens was similarly upset, writing: ‘how can sienna not be patrick’s daughter like HELLOOOO???,’ adding ‘why are we erasing years of history’.
bobbie added: ‘i’m fuming why they just rewriting history now like patrick is sienna’s dad idc what the show tries to tell me’
It’s also worth mentioning that, if Jeremy is Sienna’s dad like the spoilers for next week suggest then not only does it alter Sienna’s history but it also re-writes Dilly Harcourt’s (Emma Johnsey-Smith) – whose backstory was only established seven months ago when it was confirmed that Sienna and Dilly are sisters.
This sibling twist – which at the time was acclaimed by fans – was a retcon in and of itself, rewriting Dilly as Rafe’s wife instead of his sister.
New information was given to establish her reasons for wanting revenge, revealing Dilly to be Sienna’s long-lost sister, and she was jealous of the relationship her older sibling had with Patrick.
With Jeremy set to be revealed as Sienna’s father, this would likely negate the previous twist, thus making Dilly Sienna’s cousin instead.
‘Hang on, if Jez is Sienna’s dad not Patrick, does that mean Dilly isn’t her sister after all?,’ said Matt. ‘So everything that we’ve been through in the past year has been false? #Hollyoaks’.
‘They’re basically rewriting Sienna’s entire character history and it raises so many questions. The twist with Dilly being her long lost sister I could get behind, probably helped by how good Anna [Passey] and Emma [Johnsey-Smith] are together. But this, changing Sienna’s entire history? Nah that’s too much.’
Another social media user was in agreement: ‘If Jez was a decent human being then I wouldn’t mind because Sienna deserves to have a decent father but Jez seems to be just as bad as Patrick if not worse and also this means Sienna and Dilly aren’t sisters after all which is disappointing.’
Hollyoaks streams weeknights at 7:30pm on Channel 4’s streaming platform, or catch episodes on TV at 7pm on E4.
