Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Hollyoaks has revealed more details about next week’s special flashback episode which will explain a secret love story between Cindy Cunningham and Imran Maalik which took place on the other side of the world.
For a while now, viewers have known that Imran had a girlfriend before he and Leah crossed paths in America, who he still has strong feelings for.
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While the identity of this woman has been kept under wraps for months, this week Imran reached out to Cindy after he left Lucas for dead, revealing her to be his mysterious ex-partner.
Monday’s flashback episode (19 October) will fill in the blanks regarding this shock twist, as the action takes place away from the Chester village, in Los Angeles, California.
Viewers already know that Cindy spent time in the States before returning to Hollyoaks village, and the episode will see her cross paths with Imran in a chance encounter.
As the two characters bond over their shared history, sparks soon begin to fly and they consider starting a passionate affair.
New pictures release from this flashback episode show Cindy and Imran together for the first time, as their connection is finally explained – but will their previous relationship be revealed to Leah?
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But this surprise romance may not be the only bombshell reveal of the episode, as back in the village, secrets buried deep across the last year will be revisited – and there are revelations have the potential to floor some characters.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Steph Waring, who plays Cindy, said: “There was a lot of filming flashbacks of certain things, before we even got started on the LA episode. I found that really tricky to get my head around.
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“I was like: ‘Where is this going to go? When is this revealed?’ Then when we got the LA episode, that’s when it all fell into place for me.”
Ijaz Rana, aka Imran, added: “It was nice to see the puzzles all [come together]. Because it’s written so well, and the story is so nicely connected, it helped as well because we were trying to figure out what our characters had got up to whilst they were off screen. Then they put the backstory into place.”
Hollyoaks airs on Mondays-Wednesdays with its Channel 4 streaming 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.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
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