Lucy Allan

Lucy Allan (born 30th September 1978) is an English television producer who joined the crew of Hollyoaks in 2002. She began as an assistant script editor and received her first screen credit in November 2003 as a storyliner (alongside future series producer Caroline Roby). In 2005, Allan was promoted to script editor and became an assistant producer later that year.
Allan became the series producer in January 2009, reigning from Episode 2571 (1st June 2009) to Episode 2855 (2nd July 2010), succeeding Bryan Kirkwood and preceding Paul Marquess. She then became the executive producer of Hollyoaks in January 2021, credited on-screen from Episode 5646 (2nd August 2021). In August 2023, Allan announced her decision to leave the show once more. Allan's final episode credited as executive producer was Episode 6240 (8th November 2023).
Allan's other producing roles within Hollyoaks productions include serving as an assistant producer on Hollyoaks: No Going Back, and a series producer on season 1 of Hollyoaks Later.
== Producer Reign Overview ==
=== 2009-2010 ===
Working alongside executive producers Tony Wood and Carolyn Reynolds, Allan's first era of the show saw a slight transition back to a teenage/young adult focus: a majority of characters debuting during this period were students or teachers. Unlike most other producers, Allan decided against a cast shake-up and the show subsequently saw an unusually low amount of departures in 2009. However, Allan decided to bring back Bronagh Waugh as Cheryl Brady (who had previously only appeared for five episodes in Hollyoaks Later), as well as Kevin Sacre as Jake Dean who had previously appeared in the programme from 2002 to 2008.
Major storylines under Allan included the dramatic conclusion to Newt's schizophrenia storyline, Lydia Hart's reign of terror after the murder of Sarah Barnes, the disappearance of Holly Cunningham, Josh Ashworth's troubles with alcohol, teenager Ricky Campbell being the sole carer of his MS-suffering father, and a flashforward 'Whodunnit?' surrounding the murder of Calvin Valentine. She also planned for a historic child murder storyline involving Loretta Jones, but - despite a positive reception with the programme's audience - the story proved controversial and was cut shortly before transmission by Tony Wood. Allan also planned a cervical cancer storyline for Steph Dean (managing to convince departing actress Carley Stenson to extend her contract), but Allan decided to leave the programme before the storyline was completed. She then went on to produce Waterloo Road, Leonardo, House of Anubis, Rocket's Island, Wolfblood, The Dumping Ground and The Worst Witch.
=== 2021- ===
Re-joining the programme in an executive producer capacity, Allan took over the programme from Kirkwood (for a second time) following accusations of racism against the show. Allan decided to partake in Channel 4's "Black To Front" day with a special hour long episode featuring black talent in front and behind of the camera, with characters Saul Reeves, Olivia Bradshaw, Pearl Anderson and DeMarcus Westwood being introduced specially for the occasion. Unlike her first era, Allan's arrival saw a number of axings and departures, with three characters being killed off in an explosion in January 2022. However, controversy arose following the dismissal of long-running actress Sarah Jayne Dunn, whose character Mandy Richardson was written out due to breach of contract in November 2021.
The larger number of axings and departures allowed for the introduction of the Chen-Williams family, a half-Chinese, half-English family - the first for a British soap opera. The beginning of Allan's era saw the regular return of Kelly Condron as Zara Morgan (who had appeared from 1999 to 2005), as well as a guest return from Gemma Atkinson as Lisa Hunter (previously appearing from 2001 to 2006). Eric Foster was introduced to add to the long-running Hutchinson family, whilst drama for the McQueen family continued with the arrival of Silas Blissett's mentioned-but-formerly-unseen daughter Wendy Blissett.
With Kirkwood's departure coming rather abruptly, Allan became responsible for the conclusion of several large storylines, such as Summer Ranger's revenge against Brody Hudson, Fergus Collins's reign of terror, and Luke Morgan's battle with frontotemporal dementia. Meanwhile, major storylines under Allan so far have included the historic rape of Misbah Maalik, John Paul McQueen's alcoholism and James Nightingale's struggle with grief following the death of his mother.
==Credits==
Category:Hollyoaks crew
Category:Hollyoaks producers