{"id":288640,"date":"2026-02-13T03:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T03:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/288640\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T03:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T03:12:08","slug":"hollyoaks-to-reveal-two-very-different-carmels-in-special-episode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/288640\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollyoaks to reveal two very different Carmels in special episode"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hollyoaks spoilers<\/a> follow.<\/p>\n

Hollyoaks star Gemma Merna has revealed that fans will see two very different versions of Carmel McQueen when she returns to the soap<\/a> for a special cameo next week. Carmel is among the familiar faces coming back for the McQueen family’s fantasy episode, exploring how life might have been very different.<\/p>\n

Next Wednesday’s episode (18 February) sees John Paul in a reflective mood, as he reaches a crossroads in his life and considers the choices that he’s made over the years.<\/p>\n

This leads to some ‘What If?’ scenes \u2013 which see dead characters like Carmel, Tina and Sylver interacting with the likes of John Paul, Myra and Mercedes.<\/p>\n

Gemma spoke exclusively to us on set at Hollyoaks when she returned to filming late last year.<\/p>\n

\"michaela,<\/p>\n

Lime Pictures<\/p>\n

Related: Hollyoaks confirms 18-month secret over McQueen family returns<\/a><\/p>\n

“In the episode, I’m playing Carmel as Carmel was,” Gemma explained. “But in the other scene, I’m playing Carmel where she’s a stockbroker! She’s speaking German and she’s in a suit, so she’s really powerful.<\/p>\n

“So there are two versions of Carmel, which has been really fun to play. [The writers] got it bob-on \u2013 both of the scenes I’ve loved. I’ve loved coming back and playing this really strong, powerful Carmel.<\/p>\n

“Then [in the other scene] I’m blessing myself with holy water and I run in going: ‘Hello beautiful people!’ It’s just Carmel! Alanna [Hallum], who’s written the episode, she knew Carmel back then. It’s beautiful to play again and I’m loving it.”<\/p>\n

\"gemma<\/p>\n

Lime Pictures<\/p>\n

Related: Hollyoaks to bring back iconic villain after dramatic death storyline<\/a><\/p>\n

Asked how she prepared to step into Carmel’s shoes again, Gemma replied: “I watched a little bit of my showreel and some of the comedy stuff and things like that. I was a bit like: ‘I’m not sure I can play her!’<\/p>\n

“But once you get the clothes on, get into character, get the shoes on, I was just back into it. It might be an explosion when people are watching it, because I’m very excited to be back!<\/p>\n

“It’s just been amazing to be together again. It’s like no time has passed \u2013 and now we just need to do a spin-off with all the McQueens!”<\/p>\n

The big episode is paving the way for John Paul’s exit<\/a>, as he bows out from the show this month.<\/p>\n

Hollyoaks airs on Mondays-Wednesdays with its Channel 4 streaming<\/a> premiere at 7am, then an E4 broadcast the same night at 7pm. Full episodes are also released on YouTube a week after their Channel 4 release.<\/p>\n

Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage<\/a><\/p>\n

For exclusive soap star interviews, gossip, spoilers and theories every week, don’t miss the Soap Scoop podcast<\/a> from Inside Soap magazine. The latest episode<\/a> delves into next week\u2019s soap spoilers for EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale – featuring steamy affairs, shocking deaths, flash-forwards and major moral dilemmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hollyoaks spoilers follow. Hollyoaks star Gemma Merna has revealed that fans will see two very different versions of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[139738,137241,635,147192,637,146,1345,85,46,636,147191,141123,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-288640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-collection-exclusives","9":"tag-collection-latest-news","10":"tag-content-type-news","11":"tag-contentid-673710a2-25ab-4daa-8fd5-cf4df7f6e226","12":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-hasproduct-true","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-locale-gb","18":"tag-shorttitle-hollyoaks-to-reveal-two-different-carmels-in-special-ep","19":"tag-subsection-hollyoaks","20":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}