Kurt Benson

Kurt Benson is the son of Kirk and Juliette Benson, the brother of Ollie and Lucy Benson, and the ex-husband of Ruth Osborne.
== Biography ==
=== 1995-1996: Relationship with Natasha ===
Keen musician Kurt was the eldest son of Kirk and Juliette Benson. He had a sibling rivalry with his sister Lucy and brother Ollie: the latter of whom ended up in his bad books after taking Julie Matthews and Sarah Andersen for a joyride in Kurt's beloved Ford Consul MKII, which caught fire and exploded. Kurt also terrorised the police with his motorbike, often ending up in a game of cat and mouse which he would generally win.
Kurt developed an attraction to Natasha Andersen, the daughter of local pub The Dog in the Pond landholders Greg and Jane Andersen. Natasha initially fended off his advances, enjoying playing hard to get with Kurt. Sneaking into Natasha's friend Louise Taylor's birthday party, Kurt caught Louise's boyfriend Joe having an affair and leapt to her defence when he threatened to get violent. After attempting to help her through the break-up, Louise decided to fight for Kurt and he gave in, but he successfully managed to put Louise off him by acting erratically at a party.
Returning his attentions to Natasha, she decided to make Kurt decide as to whether to spend Christmas with the Bensons or the Andersens. Kurt ultimately chose the Andersens, delighting Natasha. Kurt ended up getting along very well with Greg as the pair performed on stage together, but ultimately caused Natasha to lose interest in him. After Natasha went on holiday at the New Year, Kurt met her cousin Ruth Osborne, who he also became smitten with. However, Ruth decided against seeing him after learning of his history with Natasha.
=== 1996-1998: Marriage to Ruth ===
At Lucy's birthday party in March 1996, Lucy's boyfriend (and Kurt's enemy) Rob Hawthorn and his friend Dermot Ashton spiked Lucy and Natasha's drinks with ecstacy. Whilst Lucy didn't drink her drink, Natasha did and ended up dying from an overdose. A vengeful Kurt and his friend Bazz attempted to force Rob to make a confession. Kurt ended up growing closer to Ruth, but they ended up splitting in July 1996 after Kurt rejected Ruth's offer to join her in the United States. She returned in October 1996 and the pair reconciled.
After Rob and Dermot brought Lucy (and Carol Groves) with them to burgle a drug dealer's lock-up and ended up crashing into River Dee, Kurt tried to get revenge on Rob. After Lucy was informed that there was insufficient evidence to charge Rob, Kurt first tried to mow down Rob in his car until Ruth intercepted on her motorbike. In December 1996, Kurt, Carol, Lucy and Jambo Bolton followed Rob on a night's 'work', deciding to take him to the drug dealers who threw Rob from a multi-storey carpark; leaving Rob with a crippling injury and subsequently igniting a feud between Rob and Kurt.
Whilst working on a building site, Kurt began to have issues with one of the builders, Spike, after he began harassing Ruth. After Spike attempted to entrap Ruth, Kurt attacked him and threw him from scaffolding, causing him to be impaled on a small spike below. Kurt was arrested and charged with attempted murder, but he fled to Hull after breaking up with Ruth, paranoid that she believed that he was guilty. Ruth followed him and the pair decided to elope whilst there. Kurt was tried in June 1997 and found not guilty. Upon their return home, Ruth and Kurt lived with the Bensons until moving into 10b Springfield Gardens together in June 1998.
=== 1998-1999: Affair with Kate and Departure ===
Ruth left for a work placement in London in July 1998, so Kurt decided to throw a party in the flat. He ended up comforting Ruth's brokenhearted step-sister Kate Patrick, who had split with married man Richard Morgan. The pair ended up sharing a kiss and - despite Kurt immediately feeling guilty - the pair ignited an affair, even sneaking off whilst visiting Jambo in Anglesey in August. Ruth returned to Hollyoaks in September, nearly catching the pair together.
After conning Lucy (who had been on a downward spiral since Ollie's death in October 1997 and subsequently become addicted to drugs) and the Bensons out of £10,000, Rob decided to get revenge on Kurt for getting him thrown from the carpark. He overdosed Lucy on heroin and sent a message to Kurt, threatening to throw her off a carpark. Kurt managed to find her and rushed her to hospital, then deciding to follow Rob who had fled to France. Managing to jump onto his boat as he made a getaway, the pair ended up having a fight: culminating in Rob lunging for Kurt - who managed to dodge him - and falling into the ocean. Kurt then left Rob to drown and returned to the coast
Upon his return to England, Kurt resumed his affair with Kate. Kate's mother Jill became suspicious, but Ruth ended up catching the pair: walking in on them sleeping together at Christmas 1998. A devastated Ruth decided to separate from Kurt, and had a showdown with Kate. After Kate tried to drown Ruth in a swimming pool, Kurt retaliated by doing the same to Kate. Afterwards, Ruth and Kurt had a heart-to-heart in which Ruth revealed that she believed that she and Kurt were no longer right for each other. Kurt decided to leave the village in January 1999 to do some soul-searching.
=== 1999-2020: Fake Death ===
In September 1999, Lucy was informed by Juliette that Kurt had been killed in a hit-and-run on a jet ski. Rob kidnapped Lucy after the funeral and took her to a nautical testing centre, where he told her that he was the one who hit Kurt and left him for dead. However, Lucy discovered that this was a lie and the jet ski driver had accidentally hit Kurt before speeding off. In 2001, Ruth began receiving calls for Kurt, only to discover that her new partner Lewis Richardson had taken loans from loan sharks under Kurt's name.
In October 2013, Tony saw visions of Kurt whilst in Spain with Dom Reilly, Finn and Harry Thompson, dealing drugs for gangster Trevor Royle. After waking on a beach having jumped from a cliff, Kurt introduced Tony to his late daughter Grace - now aged eight in the afterlife - and offered him the chance to join them. Tony declined and returned to Hollyoaks, having changed his mind about getting treatment for testicular cancer.
=== 2020: Return ===
Kurt returned to Hollyoaks in October 2020, revealing that he was still alive. He told Tony that his roommate in a hostel had been hit by the jet ski, switched IDs and falsely identified the body as him. Kurt convinced several of the villagers to invest in his diet business Slim Scran Ltd. He also began a relationship with Tony's sister Verity. However, James Nightingale - the co-worker of Verity's suitor Sami Maalik - discovered that Slim Scran was actually in Tony's name, but Kurt claimed that it was to get a high enough credit rating.
Things ended up turning south for Kurt: he proposed to Verity in front of her friends, but was rejected. Shortly afterwards, Verity and Tony's father Edward discovered that the business was a scam and blackmailed Kurt by getting him to keep Tony away from his wife, Edward's lover Diane. After Kurt discovered that Edward attacked Diane to frame Tony, Edward revealed that Kurt's business was a scam. Kurt told Tony the truth about Edward and that Diane still loved him, before fleeing the village to escape from Mandy Richardson and Darren Osborne, who had been left bankrupt from the scam.
== Kill Count ==
=== Murders/Manslaughters ===
None
=== Attempted Murders ===
# Rob Hawthorn, 28th November 1996 - Attempted to mow down Rob in his car, but Ruth Osborne cut him off with her motorbike.
# Rob Hawthorn, 16th October 1998 - Pushed Rob off a boat and left him to drown in the middle of the ocean.
== Appendices ==
=== Residences ===
Address 	Duration
Benson Residence 	Until 18th June 1998
10b Springfield Gardens	18th June 1998 to January 1999
Unknown 	Since January 1999
=== Employment history ===
== Other Information ==
*There is a discrepancy in Kurt's date of birth: in August 1997, Tony Hutchinson (born in October 1977) mentions that he is the same age as Kurt. Kurt was also mentioned to be the eldest of Kirk and Juliette Benson's children. However, Kurt's headstone lists his date of birth as September 1978, making him younger than his sister Lucy.
== Background Information ==
* Kurt was one of the original characters created by Phil Redmond for the show.
* Actor Jeremy Edwards was cast as Kurt merely days before filming of the first episode.
* Ben Hull, who would play Lewis Richardson, also auditioned for the role of Kurt, but was offered the role of Lewis.
* Richard Cambridge, who would later play Pete Webster, also auditioned for the role of Kurt.
* In June 2019, Jeremy Edwards revealed that the March 2000 storyline which saw Luke Morgan raped by Mark Gibbs, was originally created for Kurt. However, Jeremy turned down the storyline as he felt back then, the show wouldn't have been able to cover the storyline well enough.
** Kurt was also intended to appear during Rob Hawthorn's revenge week in September 1999, but Edwards was unavailable for filming due to commitments to Holby City.
* Jeremy Edwards returned in the role in 2020 for a brief guest stint. His return was initially scheduled for the summer but was moved to October 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Edwards was offered a regular contract, but declined due to a dislike of his return storyline combined with abuse received on social media.
== Introduction Sequence ==
Returning in 2020 in a recurring stint, Kurt does not appear in the introduction sequence.
== Quotes ==
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== See Also ==
* List of appearances
* Benson family
* Osborne family
Category:Hollyoaks characters
Category:Hollyoaks: Off On One characters
Category:Hollyoaks Later characters
Category:1995 debuts
Category:1999 departures
Category:2013 returns
Category:2013 departures
Category:2020 returns
Category:2020 departures
Category:1978 births
Category:1997 marriages
Category:Benson family
Category:Osborne family
Category:Students
Category:Con artists
Category:Residents of 10b Springfield Gardens
Category:Book characters