Hollyoaks star Chloe Atkinson has said Dee Dee Hutchinson's grooming storyline with Abigail Matthews is set to become "more intense" and "very dramatic" as the abuse escalates.
The troubled teen, played by Atkinson, is still grieving the death of her mother Diane Hutchinson, who passed away in May from terminal stage four ovarian cancer. Her vulnerable state has made her easy prey for newcomer Abigail, played by Brooke Vincent.
Abigail's role and manipulation
Abigail is an English and Drama teacher at Hollyoaks High School, as well as a school counsellor – a position once held by Diane. The character was introduced as part of a culturally relevant long-term storyline exploring the grooming of a child from a place of institutional authority.
Dee Dee first met Abigail when her dad Tony sent her to a rehab facility to recover from her drug addiction. As her counsellor, Abigail slowly built trust and established an emotional bond with the grieving teenager. This bond was cemented when Abigail moved to the village and became counsellor at Hollyoaks High, where she could continue to tighten her grip.
Viewers saw this firsthand when Cleo McQueen ended her fling with Abigail, prompting the predator to have a violent meltdown in her car. When Dee Dee discovered her crying, Abigail used the moment to blur the boundaries between authority figure and 'friend'.
Atkinson on the story's intensity
According to Atkinson, this is only the start. "With Dee-Dee and Abigail, it's only going to get more intense. It's going to get very dramatic," she said.
She added: "When you're filming the scenes with Brooke, she is so lovely. When I'm filming it, I don't see that side of her. Then when I'm watching it back, I think oh she's really scary!"
This is not the first time Hollyoaks has portrayed a same-sex grooming story centring on abuse of authority. Fans will remember the football abuse story in 2019, where Brody Hudson and Ollie Morgan were sexually assaulted by paedophile coach Buster Smith.
Highlighting an undetected issue
Atkinson highlighted the importance of telling this story. "It's important we tell a storyline like that, especially two women. We've looked at the statistics and it is the one thing that goes very undetected. A lot of people don't know that grooming can happen between a female and a younger female," she said.
She explained: "When I was approached with the storyline, I just assumed it would be an older man and a young girl. When you think about it, you don't think about this storyline as grooming because it's two women."
She added: "We're telling a really important storyline, these boys are going to be more involved. We just filmed some really intense scenes on location as well, which are airing soon."
