It's starting to dawn on Hollyoaks viewers that Tony Hutchinson might actually be dead… and that's not something they're prepared for at all!
Earlier this week, serial killer Breda McQueen (Moya Brady) brutally stabbed Tony in the folly after he'd worked out that she was responsible for the murders of Louis Loveday (Karl Collins), Russ Owen (Stuart Manning), Glenn Donovan (Bob Cryer), Carl Costello (Paul Opacic), Mac Nightingale (David Easter) and Tony's own son Harry Thompson (Parry Glasspool).
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As Tony clung to life in the final moments of yesterday's episode, his son Harry reappeared as a sort of spirit guide to help welcome him to 'the other side'. By all appearances, it looked as if Tony had indeed died.
In Thursday's (August 29) first-look episode, viewers got a troubling sign about Tony's fate when original cast member Nick Pickard was totally removed from the opening credits!
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Is it truly the end of an era? If so, fans are feeling anger, confusion and worry about what Hollyoaks without Tony Hutchinson could possibly be like:
As far as the episode itself, Diane (Alex Fletcher) was still angry because she thought Tony had run off because of their row over Finn's housing.
A frustrated Diane warned Sinead (Stephanie Davis) and Scott (Ross Adams) that she was heading over to The Hutch to interrupt Tony getting an award from a local food blogger.
"He might not want to talk to me, but miss out on his precious award? He'd rather be dead," Diane complained.
Yet when she arrived, Tony was nowhere to be found. Diane's anger turned to fear when Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson) brought up the serial killer on the loose — with Mandy (Sarah Jayne Dunn) jumping in to assure Di that Tony was probably just fine.
"Where is he then?" Diane wondered. "Why is he avoiding this place? All of you? My kids? What if something has happened to him?"
In the middle of the chaos, Breda wandered in claiming that she'd promised Tony she'd clean up his kitchen, and was none to pleased when Darren announced he'd be calling the police.
The detective was reluctant to file an official report, with Diane herself only reinforcing his thoughts when she shocked Darren and Mandy.
"What's the point?" Diane asked. "He's left. He's made his decision. No-one made him. No-one grabbed him and forced him.
"While you're all running around, while I'm beating myself up wondering what I'm gonna say to the kids, he's probably with another one of his thousand exes. Just like he did last time... I'm done!"
The episode climaxed with a surprise reappearance that shocked everyone — but not from Tony! Arriving at The Hutch fresh out of prison was none other than Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy)!
"What, were you expecting someone else?" he asked.
Hollyoaks airs Mondays through Fridays at 6.30pm on Channel 4, with first-look episodes airing on E4 at 7pm.
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