Breda McQueen

Breda Mary McQueen was the mother of Goldie and Sylver McQueen, adopting the latter after killing his father Wes in 1986.
Breda had a problematic childhood: her father was abusive towards both Goldie and her mother Marguerite. Breda's father would force her to watch him slaughter pigs on their pig farm, so Breda killed her father with the bolt gun he used. Breda grew up to became a nanny and became heavily religious, believing she was on a quest from God to rid the world of bad dads.
Breda married Vinnie and gave birth to Goldie in 1987. He also turned abusive, especially when a teenage Goldie fell pregnant by gangster Shane Sweeney. Sylver pushed Vinnie down a flight of stairs, but Breda was the one who killed him, allowing Sylver to serve a prison sentence for murder. Breda moved to Hollyoaks when Sylver was due to be released from prison in June 2018, and continued her killing streak: murdering Carl Costello, Glenn Donovan, Russ Owen, Louis Loveday, Mac Nightingale and Harry Thompson, deeming them "bad dads".
However, Breda's downfall came when she kidnapped Tony Hutchinson, who discovered that she had killed his son Harry. As Breda's daughter-in-law Mercedes McQueen looked to be charged with five murders (those in the village, excluding Mac), Mercedes's brother John Paul McQueen - and Goldie - realised what Breda had been doing. Breda shot Sylver with a bolt gun at the pig farm and set the house ablaze to kill them both, but he stabbed Breda through the skull with her knitting needles to stop her from killing Mercedes.
== Biography ==
=== Until 2018: Childhood and Early Murders ===
Breda was born and raised on Stone Mount Farm. Breda's father was a pig farmer, who was abusive towards Breda's mother, Marguerite. At the time, Breda could do nothing but watch her father take his anger out on her mother. When Breda was six years old, her father began to force her to watch him slaughter the pigs, threatening to beat her if she didn't. When he threatened to kill her favourite pig, she shot him in the head with a bolt gun and fed his remains to the pigs.
Breda later became a nanny and worked for Wes, often looking after his son, Peter. Wes's wife left Wes and Peter in 1986, and Wes hit the bottle regularly. Wes was also abusive towards Peter during the little time he spent with his son. Breda beat Wes to death with an angel ornament on Christmas Day 1986 to prevent him from beating Peter. She buried Wes's body in one of the paddocks of Stone Mount Farm, allowing everyone to believe that Wes had walked out on Peter but telling the boy himself that his father had a heart attack. Breda adopted Peter, renaming him Sylver McQueen.
In 1986, Breda discovered that she was pregnant. She married the father of her baby, Vinnie, giving birth to Goldie McQueen in 1987. A few years later, Vinnie started becoming abusive towards Goldie, Sylver and Breda, especially after discovering that a teenage Goldie had become pregnant by Shane Sweeney in 2000. A drunken Vinnie threatened to attack Goldie and fought with Sylver, who pushed Vinnie down a flight of stairs. Sylver fled when he thought Vinnie had been killed in the fall, but when Breda killed himself and allowed Sylver to take the fall, believing a prison stint would do him good. In July 2000, Sylver was found guilty of the murder of Vinnie and would serve an eighteen-year prison sentence.
=== 2018-2019: Arrival and Killing Streak ===
Breda returned to Hollyoaks in June 2018, informing Goldie that Sylver was due to be released from prison, and asked if he could stay with her at 26 Leigh Road, which Goldie allowed. Breda also moved into the house, and worked as a nanny for the Lomax and Osborne families. She originally decided to work for Leela Lomax, but later agreed to work for Jack Osborne, who developed a crush on her. In July 2018, Bobby Costello's grandfather Carl Costello was murdered after Bobby's mother Mercedes McQueen kidnapped him and fled to England. Carl had kidnapped Goldie in retaliation before his death, which was revealed to be at the hands of Breda in November 2018.
In October 2018, Breda took action against gangster Glenn Donovan, who was about to be murdered by Grace Black, Maxine Minniver, Simone Loveday, Courtney Campbell and Kim Butterfield. Breda poisoned Glenn's pint of beer, which caused him to suffer a massive heart attack and collapse outside of The Dog in the Pond. The women originally believed that they had killed him and Kim went on the run, unaware that Kim had switched the vials with water. Meanwhile, a month later, during Russ Owen and Mercedes's wedding, it was revealed that Goldie and Russ had slept together. Goldie discovered that she was pregnant and Russ pressured her into having an abortion. Breda later snuck into Sylver's Workshop and beat Russ to death with a mallet, leaving his body to be discovered by Mercedes.
On the wedding day of Louis Loveday and Leela Lomax in December 2018, it was revealed that Louis had cheated on Leela with both Simone and Martine Deveraux. As Louis called a taxi to leave the village, Breda knocked him unconscious by pushing a shelf on him. She moved him up to Stone Mount Farm and held him captive inside one of the rooms of the farm. She let him believe that she was going to look after him until he recovered, but began poisoning him. Whilst attempting to write a letter to Martine, Louis discovered an anonymous note written by Breda to the police in an attempt to get Goldie off the charge of murdering Russ, discovering that she was his killer. After Simone arrived at the farm looking for Breda, allowing Louis to escape. However, Breda found him in one of the barns and killed him with a telephone upon discovering what he knew. She then buried him in one of the paddocks.
=== 2019: Challenging Mac Nightingale ===
In February 2019, Breda received an anonymous message reading "I know what you did to Louis Loveday", with an attached picture of Louis's burnt belongings. The stalker later called Breda and told her to meet them at the pig farm - and was revealed to be Mac Nightingale. Mac told Breda to kill his son, James Nightingale, or else he would send the police the evidence. He also revealed that he has a system set up which required him to log into his account each day, or else the evidence would be sent to the police. Breda later paid a visit to James under the pretence of seeking legal advice and attempted to strangle him with a tie. However, James's son, Romeo Quinn interrupted, and Breda decided not to kill James after seeing his bond with Romeo. She tried to gift James a trip to Vienna, but James declined.
On the day of Mac's court case, Breda attempted to poison James's coffee but Juliet Quinn caused him to spill it on his clothes. Breda went to James's flat with a new cup of coffee, telling him that she saw Juliet knock over his other coffee. James later collapsed on the bench at the Jubilee Gardens, and Breda took a photo which she sent to Mac. James was found by Harry and his mother, Marnie, who rushed him to hospital. Mac deleted the evidence of Breda killing Louis and asked Breda to bake a celebratory lasagne. Breda gave him the lasagne and as Mac enjoyed it, she revealed that James was not actually dead, but Mac soon would be. Feeling the effects of the poisoned lasagne, Mac chased Breda up the stairs and she knocked him unconscious with the tray.
Romeo later went to find Mac at 65 Christleton Terrace, believing that he had poisoned James. Yasmine Maalik overheard Romeo shouting that he was going to kill Mac before breaking the door down. He found Mac's body and checked to see if he was still alive, getting blood on his clothes. Due to the blood and Yasmine's statement, Romeo was later charged with the murder of Mac after Breda's attempts to frame James accidentally incriminated Romeo. However, Romeo was released after James convinced Donna-Marie Quinn to take the blame.
=== 2019: Targeting Mercedes and Relationship with Jack ===
After igniting an affair with Liam Donovan, Mercedes entered a downward spiral and begun to behave erratically. Having a negative effect on both Bobby and her step-son Max Owen, Breda changed her modus operandi and targeted Mercedes for being a bad mother. Breda attempted to lure Mercedes to Sylver's Workshop to beat her with a mallet, but Breda's partner Jack Osborne turned up instead. In June 2019, Jack proposed to Breda at The Dog in the Pond, but Breda fled after discovering that teenagers Juliet Quinn, Imran Maalik, Ollie Morgan and Brooke Hathaway had snuck onto the pig farm. Jack narrowly caught Breda moving Louis's body and proposed to him when Jack spotted Louis's ring on the ground by her car. Jack accepted and Breda eventually hid Louis's body in the river.
Struggling to kill Mercedes before she could continue to do damage to Bobby and Max, Breda and Sylver had Bobby taken away from her. Mercedes became threatening towards Breda, who retrieved a wooden mallet, but Mercedes slammed the door behind her as she left and Breda ultimately missed her shot. Later that month, Breda began working for Tony and Diane Hutchinson, who had three children. One night, Tony vented to Breda about his failings as a father as his son Harry was about to go on the run after being falsely accused of the hit-and-run on Grace. Breda prepared to kill him but changed her mind, instead comforting Tony and telling him that he wasn't as bad of a father as he made out.
Breda, however, was enraged that Harry was about to abandon his newborn son, Isaac, and stabbed him in The Dog in the Pond carpark. She called him a deadbeat dad for abandoning his child, ignoring his pleas and watching him die. She moved his body into the boot of her van and buried him in the woods. Everyone assumed that Harry had gone on the run, but Tony was suspicious when he received a text message from Harry that used emojis - something that he would never do. Despite being told by Diane to drop his suspicions, Tony attempted to track down Harry and was unable to find a trace of him.
On the day of Jack and Breda's wedding in August 2019, Mercedes, who Breda attempted to kidnap, revealed that Goldie had been having a secret relationship with priest Joel Dexter. Breda cancelled the wedding and went to find Joel, with whom she had an argument before hitting him over the head with a bible. She was relieved when Joel survived and offered to give her blessing to be with Goldie in exchange for his silence. The same day, Louis's body was found in the river by Jack but the police, although suspicious of Breda who tried to shift the blame, were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to make an arrest.
=== 2019-2020: Kidnapping Tony ===
Tony became suspicious of Breda when she gifted Isaac a bear with a shirt containing a button similar to Harry's. He then discovered that the children of other recently murdered fathers had received toys resembling their fathers. After asking Leela Lomax to see the bear her son Daniel Lomax was gifted, and Sadie Cressington to see the bear Isaac was gifted, Tony's suspicions were confirmed. Confronting Breda in The Folly, Tony discovered that Breda had Harry's phone, but Breda stabbed him with a screwdriver and held him hostage in a pen at the pig farm.
With Tony missing, Breda attempted to convince the village that he had been having an affair and run away to be with his mistress. Meanwhile, Goldie and Sylver became concerned over Breda's erratic behaviour and arranged for her to speak with a psychiatrist, Felicity Burgman. Dr. Burgman told Breda that she believed that she had dementia, making her family keep a closer eye on her. Goldie discovered Harry's wallet in a bin on the pig farm and Breda told Goldie that she may have killed Harry, not Mercedes who was being accused. Whilst on a walk in the woods with Goldie, Breda's dog Bronzer dug where Harry's body lay, resulting in Goldie raising the alarm.
Learning of the news, Tony attempted to convince Breda to release him. As Breda drove him into the village, she had a change of heart, but crashed into the village's construction crane during a struggle over the steering wheel with Tony. Tony laid undiscovered in the boot of the car and, after discharging herself from the hospital, Breda returned him to the pig farm.
=== 2020: Death and Aftermath ===
In December 2019, Breda decided to frame Mercedes for the murders before leaving the village for Portugal with Jack. However, after Darren's affair with Nancy Osborne was exposed, Darren worried to Jack that Mandy Morgan was going to split with him, and Jack decided to stay in the village. In her fury, Breda stabbed Darren with a kitchen knife in The Hutch, and narrowly managed to avoid being caught by Nancy. A newly returned John Paul McQueen later caught Breda hiding a box under the floorboards, and when alone, John Paul retrieved the box. Breda called the police who arrested Mercedes, but she was released after the police failed to find any evidence.
John Paul realised that the killer was Breda and attempted to distract Breda whilst Mercedes searched the farm, but Breda and John Paul had an argument in which John Paul revealed where Mercedes was. Breda revealed that she had poisoned John Paul's cup of tea and he collapsed. Finding Mercedes at the farm, she struck her unconscious with a pitchfork and locked her in the cage with Tony. Lisa Loveday recognised Louis's ring in Goldie's possession, leading to Goldie and Sylver making the same realisation.
Sylver confronted Breda as Goldie rescued Mercedes and Tony. Breda admitted to Sylver that she had killed Vinnie before shooting him with a bolt gun. Breda then set the farm alight, intent on killing herself and Sylver. Mercedes attempted to rescue Sylver and the pair fought. As Breda attempted to stab Mercedes in the face with a shard of glass, Sylver stabbed her in the head with her knitting needles, killing her instantly. The pair (and Goldie) escaped from the farmhouse, which exploded.
Tony and Sylver both survived, but Tony was left psychologically damaged by the ordeal. He struggled to believe Breda was truly dead until his father Edward locked him in the cage again. In October 2020, Silas Blissett and Seth Costello - who were blackmailing the McQueen family - discovered that Sylver had killed Breda and reported him to the police, only for him to be released the next day.
== Kill Count ==
=== Murders ===
# Breda McQueen's Father, 1970s - Head penetrated with a bolt gun. 
# Wes, 25th December 1986 - Struck with an angel ornament, defending his son Peter (later Sylver).
# Vinnie, c.2000 - Murdered after he is pushed down a set of stairs by Sylver.
# Carl Costello, 11th July 2018 - Struck with a large rock.
# Glenn Donovan, 17th October 2018 - Drank a pint of beer, poisoned by Breda.
# Russ Owen, 16th November 2018 - Struck with a wooden mallet.
# Louis Loveday, 22nd January 2019 - Struck with a telephone.
# Mac Nightingale, 21st March 2019 - Ate lasagne poisoned by Breda.
# Harry Thompson, 23rd July 2019 - Stabbed with a chisel.
:Note: It has been referenced that Breda has killed more characters than mentioned by name on-screen.
=== Attempted Murders ===
# Louis Loveday, 28th December 2018 - Pushed a shelf onto Louis.
# Mac Nightingale, 28th February 2019 - Broke into his house and prepared to bludgeon him to death with an ornament after he tried to blackmail her but stopped when he told her that if he didn't access his phone periodically, the evidence of Louis Loveday’s murder would be sent to the police.
# James Nightingale, 1st March 2019 - Attempted to strangle James with a tie but is interrupted by Romeo Nightingale.
# Mercedes McQueen, 14th May 2019 - Attempted to lure Mercedes to Sylver's Workshop to kill her with a wooden mallet but Jack Osborne arrives instead.
# Mercedes McQueen, 4th July 2019 - Attempted to hit Mercedes with a wooden mallet but missed when Mercedes closed the door behind her.
# Tony Hutchinson, 23rd July 2019 - Attempted to stab Tony with a chisel, but changed her mind when Tony got emotional after the departure of his son, Harry.
# Joel Dexter, 19th August 2019 - Hit around the head with a bible, but when attempting to dispose of the body he awoke, and Breda apologised to him.
# Tony Hutchinson, 29th August 2019 - Stabbed with a screwdriver after Tony discovered her crimes. Before disposing of his body, Breda discovered he was still alive and kept him captive at the pig farm.
# Tony Hutchinson, 4th October 2019 - Prepared to kill a captive Tony, out of fear of him being discovered as people were starting to get suspicious about his disappearance but Tony convinced her not to kill him by saying he would make a phone call to Diane telling her he had just left the village.
# Darren Osborne, 3rd January 2020 - Stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife after begging Jack to not move to Portugal with Breda, which enraged her.
# John Paul McQueen, 7th January 2020 - Drank a poisoned cup of tea after he found out about her victims.
# Tony Hutchinson, 7th January 2020 - Stabbed with a pitch fork after he is found by Mercedes and they attempt to escape the pig farm. She also later tried to kill Tony by setting the pig pens alight. He is saved by Mercedes and Goldie and survives the fire.
# Sylver McQueen, 7th January 2020 - After Sylver discovers that he went to prison for a crime that Breda committed, Sylver raged and Breda ended up shooting him in the abdomen with a bolt gun (the same bolt gun she had used to murder her father with many years prior). 
# Sylver McQueen, 7th January 2020 - She also later tried to kill herself and Sylver by setting the farm alight. Mercedes and Goldie rescue him and he survives the fire.
# Mercedes McQueen, 7th January 2020 - Attempts to impale her with a shard of glass after Mercedes tries to rescue Sylver from her wrath. After she misses, she tries to reach for it in a struggle with Mercedes before finally being stabbed in the head to death by Sylver. Sylver, Mercedes, Goldie and Tony all escape and survive the ordeal.
==Appendices==
===Residences===
Address 	Duration
26 Leigh Road 	June 2018 to 2019
1 Stockton Lane	2019 to 7th January 2020
===Employment History===
Job 	Duration
Nanny 	Until 7th January 2020
The Dog in the Pond barmaid	2019 to 7th January 2020
== Other Information ==
* Breda has the third-highest confirmed kill count of all serial killers in Hollyoaks, behind Toby Mills and Silas Blissett.
== Background Information ==
*Moyà Brady's casting as Goldie McQueen's mother was announced merely days before her arrival in June 2018.
== Introduction Sequence ==
* 2018-2019: Breda walks down the street with Goldie McQueen, and watches as Goldie is splashed by a bike going through a puddle.
* 2019-2020: Breda sits in an armchair, knitting, and stares into the camera.
== Quotes ==
----
==See Also==
* List of appearances
* McQueen family
* Breda McQueen's Serial Killer Reign
* List of Serial Killers
Category:Hollyoaks characters
Category:Hollyoaks Later characters
Category:2018 debuts
Category:2020 departures
Category:2020 deaths
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Murder victims
Category:McQueen family
Category:Nannies
Category:Barstaff
Category:The Dog in the Pond employees
Category:Residents of 26 Leigh Road
Category:Residents of 1 Stockton Lane
Category:Serial killers
Category:Killers
Category:Hollyoaks Villains