Tom Cunningham
Tom Cunningham | |
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Hollyoaks character | |
Ella Richardson |
Tom Cunningham is a fictional character from the
Casting
The character was introduced during an extended episode broadcast on 28 December 1999.[1]
The character has been played by Ellis Hollins since 2003. The actor's drama teacher Judith Barker learned of the part through an agent friend and put him forward for the role.[2]
Storylines
Tom is born on Millennium Eve 1999 to parents
Max starts a relationship with Clare Devine (Gemma Bissix). When Mandy's baby daughter Grace Hutchinson dies due to S.I.D.S, Tom looks for a mother figure in Clare. After Clare and Max marry, he soon begins to see through her. After Tom overhears her on the phone to her father, who she previously claimed was dead, Clare begins to manipulate Tom and makes Max believe Tom is lying. Clare draws on the walls of Max's flat and pours water on his bed sheets and blames Tom's misbehaviour. After Max tells Clare he wants to accompany her to a fertility clinic, Clare poisons Tom's food so he is ill and Max cannot come. Max has a heart attack and grows more ill when Clare stops giving him his medication. At Christmas, Clare takes Max and Tom to a lakeside where Clare pretends Tom has fallen into the water. Max tries to save Tom and almost dies, but is revived by OB. Max finally sees the real Clare and apologises to OB and Tom. Weeks later, Clare tells Tom that he was the cause of his parents' death, and would eventually kill Max. Clare calls a social worker, who arrives just as Tom shouts he does not want to be near Max, and Tom is taken into care. Tom refuses to see Max and but after Max threatens Clare, the brothers meet and Max explains that Clare was lying. Tom then moves back in with Max.
Max begins to get close to
Steph then begins dance classes, which Tom and niece
Mandy returns to Hollyoaks to see Steph about custody of Tom when she dies. She takes Tom to Relish for lunch when he sees Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas) at the window, despite Warren's death in 2009. Tom tells Mandy, who tries to convince him that he did not see him. However, Tom then later confides in Frankie Osborne (Helen Pearson) about what happens to people after they die and he begins to believe that he is seeing Warren's ghost. Steph is killed in a fire at Il Gnosh. Tom stays strong to begin with but later begins crying over her death. Tom, Frankie, Jack Osborne (Jimmy McKenna) and Darren then watch a farewell video from Steph which she filmed weeks before.
In January 2011, Tom hears somebody in the kitchen, so warns Jack to investigate. When he does, Jack gets a blow in the head by the intruder. The intruder starts to confront Jack, but Tom gets hold of a cricket bat and hits the intruder on the head unconscious. The intruder appears to be a woman when Jack removes the hood she is wearing and Tom fears that he might have killed her. The girl is revealed to be Frankie's granddaughter, Esther Bloom (Jazmine Franks) and she eventually moves in with the family. Tom finds Esther's presence hard to deal with, especially as he is going to court for his attack on her. However, when he is cleared, he begins to accept Esther and the pair get on well.
There was further trauma for Tom when Gilly was arrested for raping Jacqui McQueen (Claire Cooper). Tom stood by Gilly and was relieved when he was found not guilty. Gilly later came to live with the Osbornes; however, Tom began getting bullied at school because of Gilly. Gilly decided it would be best if he moved out. In November 2011, Tom was devastated when Gilly left Hollyoaks after admitting that he had indeed raped Jacqui.
In February 2012, Tom is delighted when Darren and Nancy get married. Later that year, he is further delighted when Nancy gives birth to a baby boy.
When Sienna Blake (Anna Passey) frames Nancy for trying to kill Oscar and Charlie, Nancy is taken into a mental institute and Darren and Sienna begin a relationship. Tom realizes that Sienna had framed Nancy after catching her trying to breastfeed Oscar. When Sienna begins faking a pregnancy, Tom realizes what she is doing and catches her on video with her fake baby bump. Upon finding out about Tom's video, Sienna kidnaps Tom and keeps him in the basement of her childhood home. Sienna lies to Tom that he has caused an explosion in the village and Darren is dead. She tells him that the police are looking to arrest him and she is keeping him safe. When Sienna brings Tom food in a box, there is a newspaper underneath, which shows Darren in a picture. He then hides the newspaper under the bed which Sienna finds it and yells at Tom. He finds a small hole in the wall and pulls pieces off it and covering it with a poster when Sienna comes in. When he is breaking the wall, he hits a security wire causing the alarm to go off. Dodger Savage (Danny Mac) gets a call about it so he sends his and Sienna's father, Patrick Blake (Jeremy Sheffield), who knows about her fake pregnancy, down to check on it. When Tom is running away, he runs into Patrick but gets away. When Sienna arrives back to her engagement party, Darren gives her a ring. Nancy brings in Tom in to the pub and Nancy attacks Sienna. Darren pulls Nancy away but then she grabs at her, ripping her dress, exposing her fake pregnancy to the crowd.
Sienna kidnaps Charlie and Oscar and then goes back to Tom and threatens him, so he leaves with Sienna and she takes him to the Roscoes' garage but just before he goes in, he throws Charlie's toy on the ground. Dodger later sees this and tries to open the door but it's locked. He hears a car running as Sienna is trying to poison them. The police arrive and Tom is yelling for help. When the door is opened, Sienna drives out and tries to hit Darren with the car but Dodger gets in the way so she swerves and crashes. Tom then runs out and is greeted by Esther and Ruby Button (Anna Shaffer). Darren then runs over to him and hugs him. On his 14th birthday, Tom is shocked as Frankie and Jack have agreed to adopt him.
After Sienna is released, Tom and Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell) start a bullying campaign against her and Peri helps Tom to set Sienna up by kidnapping her niece Rose and planting her in Sienna's flat. However, this ends, when they discover Sienna's past and realized it was her father Patrick's fault. After Peri discovers that she has a brain tumour, Tom helps her escape from the hospital. They kiss and she faints from the tumour and they go back to the hospital, where she undergoes a successful operation. In August, when Peri is due to leave for New Zealand, Tom references her as his girlfriend in a conversation. Later, Peri asks if he meant it and then states that she always wanted to be his girlfriend.
When Tom tries to comfort an upset Peri, the two end up having sex, but soon after they say that they should never mention it again and that it won't happen again. Days later,
Tom and Peri talk to Leela's cousin Angela and her husband Mark when they say they would like to adopt the baby. After having a meeting with Angela and Mark, they agree to give their unborn child to them. Tom is still very unsure about the adoption as he holds back tears looking at the baby scan. After Peri bans Tom from the next scan, Tom becomes depressed and buys legal highs from Dylan. He goes to the scan high and knocks over medical equipment as Peri and Angela look on confused. After Dylan dies in a car crash, Tom and Peri make up, but Tom blackmails Peri's father Cameron into stopping the adoption with the information that Cameron killed Peri's grandparents. When Cameron fails, he decides to upload the video confession through the schools video system, but changes his mind.
In October 2015, Tom is being bullied by an unknown assailant because of his parental responsibilities towards his daughter. The culprit is revealed to be Peri, but Tom is unaware that she is responsible for posting pictures on-line, humiliating him. When Peri attempts to abandon Steph outside Angela's doorstep, it becomes clear that she has
In 2016,
Tom is later shocked, when he sees Gordon's daughter
Tom goes on the run with the Osbournes after Jack tells them that somebody is trying to kill them. Tom brings Steph with him. Tom is desperate to return to the village to see Peri and sneaks off to the village. He visits Peri, who is delighted to see him. They meet again in the folly and Peri tells Tom she did it for him and Tom realises that she called the police.
In May 2017, Tom is involved in a car accident along with Alfie,
In October 2017, Tom attends Jade's memorial at Hollyoaks High when an explosion caused by Mac occurs. Tom gains consciousness and tries to escape from the building, along with Alfie, Peri and Lily, but the roof collapses, trapping them. Peri and Lily escape on a ladder and Tom and Alfie are rescued by firefighters. Tom is devastated when Frankie dies from a stroke, losing another guardian. After turning 18, Tom inherits money from his parents and older brother Max. He is disappointed when he only inherits £1,000. Later, when he reads over the letter again, he realises that the £1,000 was only the monthly interest and that he's now a millionaire. Scheming Darcy Wilde (Aisling Jarrett-Gavin) has her eyes in his fortune. Tom decides to pay the deposit for the Osbornes to buy Nightingale's with his sister Mandy. Darcy steals the deposit and plans to leave the country. Jack turns out to be a taxi driver and when Darcy gets the money out of the bag she realises its monopoly money. Tom decides to call the police but Darcy convinces Jack to let her go and he does, infuriating Tom.
When Cindy asks Tom for a loan to start a new business, he refuses. Cindy steals his debit card and bets all the money on a greyhound, but the greyhound gets disqualified, so she loses all the money. Tom decides to give Cindy the money. Cindy's ex-husband Dirk tells Tom that she stole the money, leaving Tom furious. When Cindy makes a speech at the opening of her new business, Tom grabs the microphone off her and reveals to the guests that she stole his money. Tom disowns Cindy and moves back in with the Osbornes.
In August 2018, Tom is horrified when he discovers that the Cunninghams' lodger,
Tom was most recently in a
Reception
For her portrayal of Tom, Hollins was nominated for "Best Young Actor" at the 2004 Inside Soap Awards.[3] Ruth Deller of entertainment website Lowculture included Tom in one of her monthly columns featuring popular and unpopular soap opera characters. Criticising Tom she states: "For a little while, it seemed as though the Birdseye Botherer had disappeared from the planet, but no, he's back to taunt us, this time with his underage drinking and the overreaction to it. He's been nine for about two years now, and still acts like a toddler. Still, I suppose he won’t need to grow up much given the general IQ of the male populace of Hollyoaks."[4] The character was voted 'Soaps Greatest Ever Child' in a 2009 Inside Soap poll and has been nominated for several awards at The British Soap Awards and Inside Soap Awards.[5][6][7] At the 2012 Inside Soap Awards Hollins was nominated for "Best Young Actor" and has won the award in 2005, 2006 and 2008.[8] Hollins won "Best Young Performance" at the 2006 and 2014 British Soap Awards.[9] In 2017, Daniel Kilkelly called Tom "Hollyoaks' unluckiest teen".[10]
References
- ^ "Hollyoaks". Inside Soap. No. 143. 25 December 1999 – 7 January 2000. p. 54.
- Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 9 November 2016.
- Hachette Filipacchi UK). 14–24 August 2004. pp. 49–52.)
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: date format (link - ^ Deller, Ruth (30 November 2009). "Soapstar Superstars: November". Lowculture. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
- ^ "BSA 2007: The Winners". Digital Spy. (Hachette Filipacchi UK). 27 May 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "'Soaps Greatest' lineup revealed". Digital Spy. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "BSA 2008: The Winners". Digital Spy. (Hachette Filipacchi UK). 4 May 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
- Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 25 May 2014.
- ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (9 December 2017). "Hollyoaks shocker as Darcy Wilde plans to steal Tom Cunningham's seven-figure inheritance". Digital Spy. Hearst Communications. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
External links
- Tom Cunningham on the official Hollyoaks website