John-Paul McQueen

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John-Paul "J.P." McQueen is a fictional character in long-running Channel 4 British television soap opera Hollyoaks. He is played by actor James Sutton. He is the only male in the McQueen family. John-Paul has recently come out as gay.

1 Character History
2 Family, Friendships and Relationships
3 External links

[edit] Character History

John-Paul made his debut in September 2006, from when he quickly established a friendship with Craig Dean. He has acted as something of a blockade between Craig and Sonny Valentine, saving Craig from being beaten up several times. John-Paul won The Loft's DJ competition, and subsequently got a job earning more than anyone else in the McQueen family did by DJing at The Loft. He also started dating Hannah Ashworth. After John-Paul made various attempts to avoid doing so, the pair eventually ended up sleeping together. They had an argument and split up when he accidentally revealed that all the while he was dating her, he really liked someone else, which was mistakenly believed to be Sarah Barnes. When Craig discovered this, he became jealous and eventually broke up with Sarah, blaming John-Paul.

A few weeks later things returned to what they were, Craig with Sarah and John-Paul with Hannah, the only difference being that John-Paul was clearly not as happy as everyone else.

It was finally revealed to everyone that John-Paul has strong romantic feelings for Craig, his best friend whom he so loyally defended both verbally and physically, it took several weeks before Craig become fully aware of his friend's feelings. During that time John-Paul made several attempts to be honest with both Craig and Hannah but was unsuccessful every time, with the pair jumping to understandable conclusions. One such occasion involved John-Paul admitting to Craig there was someone he had strong feelings for but it wasn’t Sarah, before he could reveal the truth Craig assumed it was Hannah and working together with Sarah facilitated a reunion. John-Paul went along with Craig's story, that he was still in love with Hannah, in order to not lose his friendship with Craig, who was still unaware that John-Paul was attracted to him. John-Paul decided to try again with Hannah.

His mother Myra begins to suspect that there is a reason why he is lying to Hannah to avoid her but he still does not confide in her. He quickly attempts to be more romantically involved with Hannah, replaces a photo of him and Craig in his wallet with one of Hannah, later organises a rowing boat ride which ends with Hannah falling in and the couple returning to her room, where they again have (consenting) sex. He is later crushed to find out that Craig had backed out of the summer soccer camp trip which they had planned to go to, and instead go away with Sarah to Tenerife. He pretends that it is no big deal but later that day he is unreasonable and cruel to Hannah for a minor incident. He is horrified to find out Hannah was discussing their sex life and explodes with a verbal assault at her, telling her that she made his "skin crawl" and "feel sick".

Hannah’s 18th Birthday party arrives; John-Paul apologises for his actions and words, she forgives him. Sarah becomes drunk and starts to kiss Rhys Ashworth, an enraged Craig attempts to pick a fight, but is stopped by John-Paul through a slip of the tongue shouting he deserves better than her. A crying John-Paul runs outside followed by Craig, he demands to know what he means. Emotionally John-Paul essentially comes out to Craig by declaring his true feelings, although he does not state that he is gay, leaving their relationship uncertain.

On reflection John-Paul was horrified at what he confessed and told Craig he was sorry and would leave him alone, Craig however refuted this idea, telling him he was the best friend he had ever had and didn’t want that friendship to end. It is clear that John-Paul has yet to accept that he is gay and he still believes he can be happy with Hannah. They agreed not to mention the confession again and John-Paul said he was happy with Hannah and will ignore his feelings for Craig. The foursome were quickly reunited with their respective other halves and things returned to “normal”.

However a drunken heart to heart at their school's dance off competition, led to John-Paul and Craig sharing a kiss. This was seen by Hannah, who in shock told everyone at the dance. The next day Hannah went to confront John-Paul. He finally told her he is gay and has feelings for Craig, this has the added effect of ending Sarah and Craig's relationship. As news spreads, Michaela and Mercedes refuse to accept that their brother is gay. The rest of the McQueens and Russ are more supportive. Tina is caring but cautious, Carmel thinks it will be fun to have a gay brother, Jacqui has always known, and Myra has a mother's love for her son.

After a confrontation with Sonny over his sexuality, John-Paul formally comes out to his classmates and informs them that if they have a problem with his sexuality they can take it up with him. However following this event, during a 5-a-side football practice with Sonny and Craig, John-Paul is teased and bullied by Craig who eventually attacks John-Paul physically and says "Don't ever touch me again queer!". John Paul punches out Craig and after a violent threat to anyone else who wishes to bully him, he runs off heartbroken at Craig's actions.

Later Craig feels remorse for how he treated John Paul and wants to talk it through with him. John-Paul makes it clear that Craig is no longer his friend and will not accept his apology. A month later when asked by Hannah if he has sorted things with Craig he replies "Craig who?".

John Paul wants to rebuild his friendship with Hannah but he is cautious of the fact that she still is in love with him.

John-Paul found out that sister Jacqui's marriage to Albanian Aleksander Malota is a sham and tried to convince her to back out of it, even going so far as to interfer and encourage Tony to break up the marriage as he knew it was him that she truely loved.

He has also discovered that his little sister Michaela is in a relationship with Sonny Valentine, whom John-Paul despises but has decided to let it go on- giving Sonny a stern warning that if he messes with her, he will have the whole McQueen family on his back.