The Hollyoaks 2023 Carter story used the appearance of support to introduce a coercive agenda. Carter Shepherd’s involvement with John Paul McQueen was part of a storyline about so-called conversion therapy, with the production exploring how harmful ideas could be presented through an apparently reassuring relationship.
This is a historical analysis of the 2023 storyline and its production record. It discusses anti-LGBTQ+ coercion and contains archive spoilers. It does not announce new episodes, reproduce the practices depicted or offer a present-day account of legislation.
The reassuring language was part of the danger
Contemporary reporting by Attitude described Carter offering sessions framed around self-improvement. David Ames played the Hollyoaks High headteacher, while James Sutton played John Paul. The production announcement made clear that Carter’s public-facing role concealed a more disturbing purpose.
PinkNews’ report of 22 September 2023 similarly described recruitment into an apparently supportive group. It identified John Paul and the younger characters Lucas Hay and Dillon Ray within the announced storyline. The language of help was therefore part of the mechanism the drama intended to expose.
That gives the story a particular dramatic question: when does a character recognise that the promised support is conditional on suppressing who they are? The tension comes from the gap between an offer’s presentation and its underlying demand, rather than requiring the audience to accept Carter’s claims as legitimate.
John Paul’s recognition changed the scene
In Channel 4’s interview published on 7 November 2023, Sutton described John Paul realising the nature of Carter’s agenda. His account emphasised a character trying to make sense of the situation during the confrontation, while the storyline revealed more of Carter’s background.
As an editorial reading, recognition is a meaningful turning point because it changes how earlier encounters can be understood. Words that initially sounded encouraging can acquire a different meaning once their purpose becomes clear. A continuing drama has time to build that reinterpretation across episodes.
The actor’s account is evidence of the scene’s intended perspective. It is not a transcript of every instalment, and it does not by itself establish how every viewer responded. Keeping that distinction allows the production record to inform analysis without replacing the episodes with publicity claims.
Who informed the production?
Both Attitude and PinkNews reported the involvement of journalist Josh Parry, who had undertaken an undercover investigation into conversion practices. They also identified Justin Beck, whose experience had featured in Hollyoaks IRL, as a contributor to the storyline’s development.
Those connections explain why the story’s preparation extended beyond the fictional characters. The documentary connection offered lived experience, while the investigative work contributed another perspective on how such groups present themselves. Neither should be treated as permission to generalise every person’s experience from one plot.
Sutton’s Channel 4 interview also described rehearsal, discussion and trust in his work with Ames. That production detail helps separate the performers’ collaboration from the relationship they were portraying. An actor explaining a coercive character’s behaviour is not endorsing that behaviour.
Why the contrast with belonging mattered
In the same interview, Sutton stressed the importance of showing positive LGBTQ+ relationships and pride alongside the darker storyline. The contrast gave the programme space to represent affection and belonging while examining attempts to undermine them.
Editorially, that is an important choice. A story about coercion can become narrow if it allows the coercive figure to define every possible future for the people around them. Other relationships help keep their identities and ambitions visible beyond the threat.
For viewers revisiting the archive, the useful focus is the pattern of influence: an authority figure, reassuring language, a concealed demand and the gradual recognition of that demand. The dated interviews and contemporary reports document how Hollyoaks approached those elements in 2023. They should be read within that period, especially where speakers discuss then-current politics or preview episodes still ahead at the time.