Mark Gibbs (Colin Parry)

Hollyoaks bosses are bringing back Mark Gibbs – the evil bully who raped Luke Morgan, Digital Spy can exclusively reveal.

Original actor Colin Parry is reprising the role after 16 years away from the Channel 4 soap and he's already filmed his comeback scenes.

Hollyoaks embarked on a groundbreaking storyline in 2000 when Luke was raped by Mark at the end of a long-running bullying campaign. The scenes made soap history when they aired in a special late-night episode.

When Luke returned to Hollyoaks this summer, viewers discovered that he had an alcohol problem. Future episodes will now explore how his issues stem back from the terrible ordeal that he suffered years earlier.

Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Hollyoaks' executive producer Bryan Kirkwood explained: "When one of our writers pitched the return of Mark Gibbs, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Everyone almost burst into tears with the idea of what that would mean to Luke.

"We will be seeing the return of Mark later this year. He was punished at the time, but he now looks like he's got a lovely, charmed life. To Luke, who is still devastated and drinking himself into a stupor every night, that's a bitter pill to swallow.

"They're really heavyweight performances and episodes. It's thrilling to be able to revisit the past in order to motivate Luke's future."

Digital Spy understands that Mark's return scenes will air towards the end of the year. Hollyoaks has been researching the storyline with help from Survivors Manchester and its founder Duncan Craig, who previously consulted on John Paul McQueen's male rape storyline with Finn O'Connor.

Bryan continued: "Gary Lucy has been extraordinary as Luke. There is real pain behind his eyes. What's really interesting is that Hollyoaks is the only soap to have told male rape stories. We've now told two of them.

"One thing that we've talked about is that John Paul did the right thing but Luke didn't, because he suffered in silence and ran away from his problems. Luke never dealt with it properly.

"I have sometimes worried whether we're delving into the past too much, but the feedback that we've had from our wonderful friend Duncan at Survivors, and other charities, is that an event like this can shape the rest of your life if you don't deal with it properly."


Digital Spy