Ollie (played by Aedan Duckworth) received justice during last week’s court case on Hollyoaks as his abuser Buster (Nathan Sussex) was sentenced to six years behind bars after being found guilty of the crimes.
Brody Hudson (Adam Woodward) didn’t get the verdict he was hoping for from his case however, as the case was thrown out due to his friend Damon Kinsella (Jacob Roberts) committing perjury on the stand.
The court case won’t be the end of the harrowing plot for both characters on the Channel 4 soap however as the pair could face numerous personal issues in the coming months, including struggles with mental health.
Survivors Manchester CEO Duncan Craig has revealed for the rest of their time on the soap, the harrowing plot will continue to rise its head in different situations for Ollie and Brody.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk about the aftermath for Ollie and Brody, Duncan explained: “What you’ve got now is two people who need to get help, who will be struggling with various different things so like many survivor’s struggle with.”
Revealing how viewers may see Ollie and Brody cope with their situation, Duncan continued: “Potentially, issues around addiction, mental health issues, issues around intimacy, issues around trust and I think what you’ll see for the next however long, you’ll see those survivor issues being played out which is wonderful because it means people can see that there is always a healing process that’s happening.”
Viewers will have already seen Brody struggle with intimacy and trust as he tries to build a relationship with Sienna Blake (Anna Passey).
Brody was also reluctant to trust Damon again as he believed the barman was helping his father Buster by informing the court he hadn’t heard his parents arguing about Brody’s abuse.
However, the consequences of Buster’s actions have yet to impact Ollie’s relationships with viewers seeing him getting closer to his friend Brooke Hathaway (Talia Grant).
As the weeks progress, Ollie’s ordeal could come back to haunt him as he struggles to commit to a relationship with Brooke and in turn, Ollie struggling with his mental health.
Survivors Manchester worked with Hollyoaks on the storyline, having previously advised on John Paul McQueen’s (James Sutton) rape ordeal.
Revealing the impact the story has had with viewers at home, Duncan explained how Survivors Manchester has seen a spike in response for the first time since David Platt’s (Jack P. Shepherd) rape storyline on Coronation Street last year.
“We’re seeing on average three people a day asking for help,” Duncan revealed but said the conversation around the issue has been significant with Hollyoaks’ storyline.
“There’s never been a conversation like there has been on social media particularly, then there has with this particular story.
“It’s really engaged lots of younger people talking about Ollie and Brody and how brave Ollie is.”
“We’ve been tagged into so many tweets and Instagram stories from people who are identifying with
Ollie and Brody but particularly Ollie, because we’re talking about something that is happening to them now and not only somebody, but a boy.”
Duncan continued: “That really is new, no one has ever done that before. No one has ever talked like that before.”
As a an adult survivor of child abuse, Duncan also spoke about the poignancy of the end of Friday’s episode which saw Brody come face-to-face with several other survivors.
“That was really important because when I first started reading the script, it was heavily focussed on Ollie because this was Ollie’s story.
“I identified much more with Brody, the guy who stuff had happened to when he was younger but had never spoken out.