Hollyoaks spoilers follow for Tuesday’s (May 28) episode that is now available to view on Channel 4 streaming. The episode in question will air on E4 on Wednesday May 29 at 7pm.
Hollyoaks has paid tribute to Kirsty-Leigh Porter’s baby daughter Penny-Leigh Barber, who was stillborn in December 2018 at 29 weeks and three days.
Kirsty, who plays Leela Dexter, worked with the Channel 4 soap on a storyline as a way of raising awareness and showing what baby loss actually looks like.
The story in question, which commenced last week, saw Leela discover that her unborn baby has passed away, with the obstetrician relaying the upsetting news.
Leela had – just hours earlier – tied the knot with husband Joel Dexter (Rory Douglas-Speed), excited for the next chapter of their lives together.
In the wake of the news, Joel was summoned to the hospital, where Leela revealed that their baby had passed away, before the two burst into tears.
Doctors subsequently induced the labour, with Tuesday’s (May 28) streaming offering of the show seeing Leela rushed back to Dee Valley hospital when her contractions began.
In emotional scenes, helmed by truly spectacular performances from actors Kirsty and Rory, Leela delivered her stillborn baby boy.
Leela burst into tears at the sound of silence as the midwife wrapped the baby boy in a fire engine blanket, handing him to the grieving parents to cradle.
The couple settled on Noah as a name for their angel baby.
The midwife was keen to check Leela’s bleeding and therefore suggested they go to the bathroom. Joel took the opportunity to meet his son properly, branding him his ‘wee boy’.
The former priest struggled to hold back tears as he serenaded little Noah with the song that he’d written for Leela on her wedding day.
Doing so proved incredibly emotional as he struggled to get the words out. His tears consuming him.
Leela overheard the song and similarly sobbed as she cradled Noah once more, telling Joel just how much she loves him as the family shared a special moment together.
The camera panned away from the grieving family to a shot of the hospital interior, with all the excited mums and dads-to-be entering the maternity ward. The concluding shot, however, was of Dee Valley hospital itself, where a ribbon could be seen hanging on a tree – before a gust of wind sent it into the air.
A ribbon – as Cleo McQueen (Nadine Mukerrin) informed us in the previous episode – commemorates babies that died before, during or after birth and is the symbol used for Baby Loss Awareness week.
The episode was dedicated to the memory of Penny-Leigh.
Discussing the loss of her daughter, Kirsty told OK! Magazine: ‘My soul left for a little bit after Penny-Leigh. Everything flips upside down. You never get over it, you never forget.
‘There’s always going to be a part of you that’s missing. I remember one day when I got up and I thought, “I can’t carry on like this any more, I have to do something”. I do a lot of writing. Once I’ve written what’s running through my head, I feel like I’ve offloaded a lot.’
Hollyoaks streams weeknights at 7:30pm on Channel 4’s streaming platform, or catch episodes on TV at 7pm on E4.
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