| Lydia Hart | |||||||
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| Hollyoaks character | |||||||
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| Portrayed by | Lydia Kelly | ||||||
| Duration | 2009–2010 | ||||||
| First appearance | 4 March 2009 | ||||||
| Last appearance | 1 January 2010 | ||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||
| Introduced by | Bryan Kirkwood | ||||||
| Spin-off appearances | Hollyoaks Later (2009) | ||||||
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Lydia Hart is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Lydia Kelly. Lydia was created by series producer Bryan Kirkwood as one of many characters introduced that year. She made her debut in the soap on 4 March 2009, and remained for ten months.
Lydia's storylines focus on homosexuality, obsessiveness and murder. The seemingly level-headed music lover and friend of Josh Ashworth (Sonny Flood), she is portrayed as opinionated, passionate young student who had a love of music and protecting her family, for example her young sister Persephone Hart (Elizabeth Hadley) who also appeared in the show for a period of three months. Lydia's relationship to the sexually confused Sarah Barnes (Loui Batley) was central to the character for the seven months leading up to her screen death in October 2009 after she was murdered by Lydia. Other storylines included her ongoing on-off relationship with ex-girlfriend Charlotte Lau (Amy Yamazaki) and continued feuds with Archie (Stephen Beard) and Zoe Carpenter (Zoë Lister). The character's departure was announced in December 2009, resulting in the character being charged for the murder of Sarah and the attempted murder of Zoe, with Lydia making her final appearance on 1 January 2010. The parachute stunt won a British Soap Award in 2010, but the aftermath storyline has received mixed reviews from critics. Some have favoured Lydia's "bunny boiling" whilst others described it as a "drawn out and boring storyline."