Fergus Collins

Fergus Collins was a corrupt businessman, and the fiancé of Trish Minniver.
A former associate of Brad King, Fergus soon managed to inherit his empire after Brad attempted to double-cross him. Striking up a partnership with Warren Fox, Fergus refused to let anything get in his way of his goals of owning businesses and making a profit from invasive live-stream "Bluebird" with technician Timmy Simons.
His desperation for wealth ultimately lead to his downfall after Trish discovered that Fergus had attempted to traffick her daughter Maxine. Fergus realised that Trish was attempting to record a confession to send him to prison and prepared to kill her, only for Maxine to burst in and strike Fergus with a champagne bottle. Fergus fell and hit his head on the counter, which killed him.
Fergus owned nightclub The Loft and public house The Dog in the Pond, held the lease for five stores in the Price Slice chain, and was the landlord of 8 Rowing Club Apartments and 67 Christleton Terrace until his death.
== Biography ==
=== 2021: Arrival ===
Fergus arrived in Hollyoaks in March 2021, meeting with Brad King over a plan to perform a robbery on a van transporting high-end laptops. Brad recruited Warren Fox and Felix Westwood for the heist, but the trio kept the money for themselves. Fergus later confronted Brad: telling him that Brad was to sign over his businesses and properties to Fergus, or Fergus would submit his evidence to the police and have Brad arrested. Brad agreed to sign over his businesses, and left the village afterwards.
Recruiting Warren to work as his associate, Fergus purposely causes a gas leak in newly inherited 2 Oakdale Drive as an excuse to install carbon monoxide detectors and a hidden camera in resident Peri Lomax's bedroom - the camera transmitting a live video feed for "Bluebird", a subscription service allowing users to access videos of women in bedrooms and bathrooms. Fergus later hired Shaq Qureshi to work for him, but convinced Shaq that he lost an expensive ring and therefore owed Fergus £100,000. Shaq was unable to pay the money, so Shaq's aunt Misbah Maalik sold her house to Fergus to clear the debt.A woman, Katja, learned of "Operation Bluebird" and blackmailed Fergus. A furious Fergus ordered Warren (who recruited Felix) to kill Katja, but Katja worked out their plan, resulting in Fergus being forced to pay her £1,000 a month.
=== 2021: Continued Reign of Terror ===
Fergus next set his sights on the local nightclub The Loft (owned by Felix's girlfriend Grace Black), being the optimum location for "Bluebird". Grace refused to sell to Fergus, so Fergus sabotaged the new sign for the building, which Felix had recently installed. The sign ended up collapsing on Darren Osborne, leaving him seriously injured. Not having public liability insurance, Fergus offered to purchase part of the club, but Grace unknowingly signed her whole share of The Loft to Fergus. Grace, vowing to get the club back, subsequently ignited a feud with Fergus.
Fergus later reconciled with ex-girlfriend Trish Minniver. With Warren dating Trish's daughter Maxine, the quartet ended up getting closer together. Managing to obtain the leases for four Price Slice stores in North-West England, Fergus had "Bluebird" technician Timmy Simons visit Hollyoaks Price Slice leaseholder Walter Deveraux, pretending to be an estate agent. Walter refused to sell to Fergus, so he and Warren concocted a plan for Warren to burgle Price Slice, which went wrong when Walter walked in on Warren and Warren shoved him to the floor in a bid to escape. However, Walter ended up handing over the lease to Fergus.
Having already turned Warren against Felix, Fergus also attempted to turn Warren against his son Joel Dexter when Joel learned of the robbery. Maxine attempted to sort Warren's financial records, and found suspicious documentation for "Bluebird", which she told Trish of and confronted Fergus over. Fergus told Maxine that the business was a digital business, which he had kept secret as he was uncertain of its success. After Maxine had an argument with Warren, she and Fergus got drunk together, and Fergus convinced her that they had slept together (when in reality, they had not). Maxine attempted to confess to Trish, but Fergus interrupted and proposed marriage to an overjoyed Trish. He also convinced Maxine to break up with Warren.
Fergus next set his sights on The Hutch, but owner Tony Hutchinson was unwilling to sell to Fergus. Fergus began having financial issues and tried to enlist Warren to help him with a drugs raid, but Warren outrightly refused as his sister had died of a drug overdose in 2014. Timmy returned to inform Fergus that Bluebird's firewall was under attack, with Fergus planning an impromptu getaway to Mexico. Upon returning, Fergus found a voicemail on Joel's phone of Warren confessing to the murder of Brody Hudson, which Fergus deleted in a bid to keep Warren on side.
=== 2021: Trafficking, Framing Warren and Death ===
Discovering that Timmy had revealed to Peri and Juliet Nightingale that hidden cameras had been planted in their house, Fergus pretended to comfort him before shooting him in the back of the head, killing Timmy. He then forced Warren - who witnessed the murder - to help bury his body. Warren decided to help Fergus with the drugs job. Whilst waiting for the van, a mystery caller warned Fergus that the police were aware of the robbery, with D.S. Cohen and P.C. Franks confronting but failing to find drugs in their van outside of Warren's Wheels. Warren told Fergus that he had discovered that Felix had informed the police of the robbery, to which Fergus gave Warren a gun and told him to kill Felix. Unbeknownst to Fergus, Warren could not go through with the murder, with Fergus not finding out until spotting Felix exiting the Hollyoaks Rowing Club apartments.
Fergus was later contacted by an associate, who advised him to close down Bluebird. However, as he did so, a user named "£ugardaddy66" contacted Fergus and offered to purchase Maxine for £1,000,000. Fergus agreed and carried out his plan to have Maxine kidnapped and trafficked. Joel, working with James Nightingale, soon discovered the full truth behind Bluebird and Warren confronted Fergus. With Fergus at risk of being caught out, he told Warren about Maxine being sold and told him that if he wanted to find Maxine, he would need to keep Joel quiet. Warren agreed and Fergus lead him to a shipping yard where Maxine was being held. Joel ultimately decided to go to the police anyway, but Fergus claimed that Warren was behind the trafficking and Operation Bluebird as all of the documentation was in his name, leading to Warren's arrest.
thumb|Fergus is killed by Maxine.
Fearing that his secret was still under threat, Fergus ordered Longmere Prison guard Mr. Acton to have Warren murdered whilst he planned to flee to Mexico with Trish. However, Maxine discovered video footage from the night she and Fergus had supposedly slept together, realising that he had lied. She then stole Fergus's phone and discovered texts from '£ugardaddy66', demanding a refund due to his failure to traffick Maxine. Maxine presented Trish with her evidence, and Trish came up with a plan to trap Fergus. Shortly before the move to Mexico, Trish attempted to get a confession out of Fergus, recorded on a wire she was wearing. Fergus realised her plan and prepared to kill her, but Maxine entered and struck Fergus with a champagne bottle, causing him to hit his head and die.
=== 2021-2022: Aftermath ===
Trish initially attempted to clean the crime scene, but Maxine informed D.S. Cohen in an attempt to confess. However, Trish took the blame and P.C. Franks tampered with the evidence as to cover Maxine's role in Fergus's death. Convinced that Trish had acted in self-defence against a violent criminal, D.S. Cohen released Trish. Meanwhile, Warren survived the hit ordered by Fergus, but Fergus's reign of terror was not over yet as his solicitor passed on a video of Warren burying Timmy's body to the police. Joel managed to track down Katja, who told the police that she had been trafficked by Fergus into England from Poland, and Warren was released.
After Fergus's death, Trish inherited his properties and businesses. She ended up giving back a majority of the businesses to the owners who were conned by Fergus, such as The Loft back to Grace. After Fergus's funeral proved disastrous and Trish was ridiculed by some of Fergus's victims, she ultimately decided that the effect of his actions was too overwhelming for her, and moved to Los Angeles in January 2022. In 2023, Fergus was mentioned a few times by Peri, Juliet and Maxine when they all discussed the affects of spiking and men exploiting women as incel, Eric Foster was targeting some of the local women. 
== Kill Count ==
=== Murders ===
# Timmy Simons, 13th October 2021 - Shot for nearly exposing "Operation Bluebird".
:In Episode 5699 (14th October 2021), Fergus revealed to Warren Fox that Timmy was not his first murder victim and multiple lines from him confirm he had countless other murder victims.
=== Connected Murders And Deaths ===
# Brody Hudson, 16th September 2021 - Deleted a voicemail confession from Warren admitting to killing Brody in order to prevent Warren being sent to prison.
=== Attempted Murders ===
# Katja (by proxy), 11th May 2021 - Ordered Warren Fox to kill Katja in order to stop himself, Warren and Felix Westwood from going to prison. However, upon discovering that Katja was the target, Warren decided not to go through with killing her.
# Felix Westwood (by proxy), 19th October 2021 - Ordered Warren Fox to kill Felix, who threatened to expose their upcoming robbery. Warren took Felix to a forest where he prepared to shoot Felix, but Joel Dexter deflected the gun.
# Warren Fox (by proxy), 22nd November 2021 - Fergus ordered prison guard Mr. Acton to have Warren murdered, which was done through the prison guard recruiting several inmates to assault Warren.
# Trish Minniver, 22nd November 2021 - Prepared to kill Trish for double-crossing him after she tried to expose him for his camera operation, but was stopped by Trish's daughter Maxine who struck him with a champagne bottle. 
== Appendices ==
=== Residences ===
Address 	Duration
8 Rowing Club Apartments	2021 to 22nd November 2021
=== Employment history ===
Job 	Duration
Landlord 	Prior to March 2021 to 22nd November 2021
The Loft owner 	June 2021 to 22nd November 2021
The Dog in the Pond owner	23rd September 2021 to 22nd November 2021
== Introduction Sequence ==
Fergus did not appear in the introduction sequence.
== Quotes ==
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== See also ==
* List of appearances
Category:Hollyoaks characters
Category:2021 debuts
Category:2021 departures
Category:2021 deaths
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Murder victims
Category:Killers
Category:Businesspeople
Category:Gangsters
Category:Residents of 8 Rowing Club Apartments
Category:The Dog in the Pond landholders
Category:Hollyoaks Villains