| John Paul McQueen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Hollyoaks character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | James Sutton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration |
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| First appearance | 6 September 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Bryan Kirkwood | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances | Hollyoaks Later (2020) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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John Paul McQueen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by James Sutton. The character debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 6 September 2006; his storylines have significantly revolved around his sexuality, evolving from the initial denial of his homosexuality, to the pursuit and relations with best friend Craig Dean (Guy Burnet), the storyline gained a fan-base and garnered them "supercouple status". The storylines received acclaim from LGBT rights charity Stonewall. John Paul later has a relationship with a priest, Kieron Hobbs (Jake Hendriks). In 2008, Sutton quit the serial and his character received a "sunset ending" with Craig, which was promised for fans by executive producer Bryan Kirkwood.
Sutton reprised the role in 2012 and John Paul returned on 18 December 2012, after leaving his role as Ryan Lamb in Emmerdale. Producers placed the character at the focus of a male rape story in 2014 when he is assaulted by a student, Finn O'Connor (Keith Rice). The character has been involved in a failed marriage to Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson), being hospitalised due to a drink that was spiked with drugs, being involved in a train crash with his family, which ultimately killed his older sister Carmel McQueen (Gemma Merna), a drunken kiss with Harry Thompson (Parry Glasspool) which jeopardised his career, an affair with cousin-in-law, Lockie Campbell (Nick Rhys) and striking up a friendship with transgender boss Sally St. Claire (Annie Wallace), who later reveals that John Paul is her son. John Paul then had a relationship with Scott Drinkwell (Ross Adams) and a one-night stand with James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan). In early 2017, Sutton announced his intentions to leave the serial and the character departed on 9 March 2017. He reprised the role on 26 March 2019 for a cameo appearance, and four months later, it was announced that Sutton had reprised the role on a permanent basis. He returned on 9 December 2019 for two episodes to explore Finn's presence after his release, before returning permanently on 2 January 2020. Since his return, he was involved in a male domestic abuse storyline with George Kiss (Callum Kerr), and later deals with alcoholism, resulting in him crashing a minibus after suffering from withdrawal symptoms. John Paul later becomes part of a high-profile storyline regarding conversion therapy where Carter Shepherd (David Ames) befriends John Paul in the hopes of supposedly curing him of his homosexuality.