Romeo Nightingale

Romeo Nightingale is a major character of the British soap opera drama Hollyoaks. 
The character is portrayed by . In a flashback episode, he is played by . 
==Overview==
Romeo Nightingale was raised by his drug-addicted prostitute mother, Donna-Marie. Romeo was conceived when Donna-Marie was paid by Mac Nightingale to sleep with his gay sixteen-year-old son, James, to "make him straight." Romeo grew up in an unsafe and unstable environment and often had to protect himself and his half-sister, Juliet from Donna-Marie's clients. Romeo first appears in a flashback as a young child telling Donna-Marie he wishes he had a father. Romeo arrives in town to meet James, but then decides against it. Romeo meets Lily McQueen and is instantly attracted to her. Romeo goes into business promoting illegal raves with Lily's husband, Prince.
Soon enough Romeo finds out his father James is having an affair with Harry Thompson and tries to blackmail Harry over it, which leads to he and James finally meeting properly. Romeo agrees to help James ruin Harry's wedding to Ste Hay. James is heartbroken when Harry goes through with the wedding and, in a moment of vulnerability, he comes onto Romeo, who finally has to tell him he is his father. Romeo is devastated when James rejects him. Romeo declares his love for Lily, who admits she has feelings for him too, but she ultimately decides to stay with Prince. Romeo discovers that Prince has testicular cancer, but is refusing to tell anyone. This damages Lily and Prince's marriage and she sleeps with Romeo. Lily agrees to run away with Romeo, but then she finds out about Prince's condition and she is disgusted to learn Romeo knew about it all along.
Sometime later, Romeo along with his half-sister Juliet and his mother are invited by Mac to move into Cindy Savage's house. Romeo is appalled when he discovers that Donna-Marie and Mac have tampered with Cindy's bipolar disorder medication. After Mac ejects Romeo from the house, James offers to let Romeo move in with him and they start building a relationship. After finding out that James broke up with Harry to focus on him, he gives them his blessing to be together. With Prince having left town, Lily and Romeo finally become a proper couple. Prince confronts them about their affair and Lily decides she cannot be with either of them.
Later on, Mac is murdered and Romeo becomes a prime suspect. The police discover a vial of poison in Romeo's jacket, which was planted by Mac's murderer, Breda McQueen. James tells Romeo he has to leave the country. Lily agrees to come with Romeo, but changes her mind after she realises she wants to be with Prince. Lily tragically dies from sepsis, devastating Romeo. Romeo is locked up for Mac's murder, but is later released when Donna-Marie is tricked by James into confessing. Romeo tries to comfort James when he found out that Harry was murdered, but James hits Romeo. Things gets worse when James began abusing Romeo, and Romeo moved out and secretly stayed in the Maalik's empty household. He was found by Peri Lomax, who threatened to tell his grandmother, Marnie Nightingale, but Romeo confess to Peri that James hit him, and the reason why he stayed at the Maalik's.
Not long afterwards, Peri visits Romeo the next day and told him about the day she found out that her 'parents' are her grandparents, and advices Romeo to keep talking to James. Marnie later finds Romeo, when Peri told Marnie what had happened. Marnie reasons with Romeo that James had regretted for what he did and Marnie takes Romeo home, only to find James about to attack Juliet. Romeo comforts James when he, Juliet and Marnie attended to Harry's funeral.
When Juliet starts hanging out with Sid Sumner, the son of the Far-Right Group leader, Stuart Sumner (Chris Simmons), Romeo tells him to stay away. At Christmas Romeo and Peri set their friends Yasmine Maalik and Tom Cunningham on a date and they both went to a Christmas party together. In 2020, Romeo meets Cher Winters and instantly became smitten with her. But he is shock when he learn that she's Sylver McQueen's long-lost daughter. He asks Cher out on a date, but she rejects him, in front of Tom and Yazz. Romeo continues to pursue Cher and tries to impress her, much dismay to Sylver. Romeo gives Cher his number, but she gives it back to him, rejecting him once again.
It is then Romeo tells Cher that he needs another job, so Cher's stepmother Mercedes McQueen offers him a trial for a part-time job. However, Cher's aunt Goldie McQueen is suspicious of him and decides to challenge Romeo. Romeo takes on Goldie's challenge and completes it in the nick of time and gets offered a part-time job at The Dog. Later, Goldie sees that Romeo and Cher really like each other and recruits her fiancé Joel Dexter (Rory Douglas-Speed) to help her play matchmaker. Cher and Romeo later realise that Joel and Goldie have tried to set them up and Cher insists that her and Romeo are just friends. Upon hearing this, Goldie vows to get Romeo and Cher together. The next day, Romeo invites Cher to Imran Maalik's party with him. Romeo is delighted when Cher shows up and the two of them grow closer.
==Gallery==
Owen Warner.jpg|Romeo Nightingale promo.
==Trivia==
*For his portrayal of Romeo, Warner won the accolade for Best Soap Newcomer at the 2018 Digital Spy Reader Awards.
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