Danny Lomax
Danny Lomax is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Stephen Billington. The character and casting were announced in July 2013, with Billington making his first appearance on 8 July. Billington, who had previously appeared on Coronation Street, was happy to be cast on another soap. He had previously auditioned for another role on Hollyoaks but was glad he did not receive it as he preferred Danny's character. Danny was introduced as a new drama teacher and as a love interest of John Paul McQueen (James Sutton). Danny was characterised as being charming, caring and secretive, with it being teased that Danny has many secrets that would come out. It is revealed that Danny is happily married to Sam Lomax (Lizzie Roper) whilst having a relationship with John Paul. Sam and her daughters with Danny – Teegan (Jessica Ellis), Leela (Kirsty-Leigh Porter) and Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell) – later move to Hollyoaks. Danny is also revealed to be the father of established character Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) and the two develop a father-son relationship. Hollyoaks producer, Bryan Kirkwood, had introduced the Lomaxes in order to give Ste a family unit on the soap. The family deal with various dramas, including Tegan giving birth and Peri's brain tumour.
Danny Lomax
2013–14
8 July 2013
5 August 2014
Drama teacher
Drama teacher
Libby Lomax
Sam Lomax (until 2014)
Peri Lomax
Dee Dee Hutchinson
Leah Barnes (adoptive)
Hannah Hay-O'Connor
Rose Lomax (adoptive)
Danny and John Paul struggle to keep their distance from each other and they are caught kissing on camera. Billington revealed that Danny believes that his affairs do not impact his family life or marriage, but his affair with John Paul is having an effect due to Danny loving him. Billington believed that John Paul and Danny were well suited for each other due to John Paul's caring personality which shows some of the goodness that Danny has lost. The pair's romance led to a storyline regarding homophobic bullying. Danny and John Paul's affair is eventually revealed, and Danny ends up cheating on Sam again with George Smith (Steven Roberts). Danny is also later revealed to be Peri's grandfather due to Peri being the daughter of Leela and Cameron Campbell (Cameron Moore). Billgton later left the role and made his last appearance on 5 August 2014. Danny and Sam decide to leave Hollyoaks in order to escape, but as they are leaving they are killed in a car crash, which had been kept a secret until broadcast. It is later revealed that Cameron is the driver who murdered the couple and he is arrested for his crimes.
Storylines[edit]
Danny arrives as the new drama supply teacher of Hollyoaks High School to organise a production with John Paul McQueen (James Sutton). An attraction grows between the two and they kiss and go on a date, but when Danny is offered a permanent position at the school he tells John Paul that nothing else can happen between them. Danny later changes his mind and has sex with John Paul but he later ignores his calls. He then returns and pleads with John Paul for another chance, which he is given. Danny is warned by headteacher Patrick Blake (Jeremy Sheffield) to not mix his personal life with his professional role. When John Paul does not show up to a date, Danny retaliates by flirting with Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson). However, he runs off when he realises that Ste is his biological son. John Paul assumes that the pair have had sex but Danny denies this and confides in John Paul that he has a son, though he does not reveal that it is Ste. After having sex with John Paul, Danny secretly meets up with his wife, Sam Lomax (Lizzie Roper). Danny continues seeing John Paul behind Sam's back and is blackmailed by his student Robbie Roscoe (Charlie Wernham) over this, who threatens to expose his affair if he does not prevent his expulsion. Ste's husband, Doug Carter (P. J. Brennan), finds out that Danny is Ste's father and confronts him. After Doug is later killed in an explosion, Danny stops Ste from committing suicide and tells him that he is his father.
Danny's wife and daughters – Teegan (Jessica Ellis), Leela (Kirsty-Leigh Porter) and Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell) – move to Hollyoaks and Ste moves in with them. Danny is shocked but happy when Tegan unexpectedly gives birth. When John Paul is raped, he does not tell Danny but he is aware that something is going on. Danny assumes that it is Robbie's homophobic bullying and confronts him. Peri later finds John Paul and Danny kissing on camera and confronts Danny over the betrayal, which results in Peri falling down the stairs. Peri is revealed to have a brain tumour and Danny tells Peri that her tumour made her imagine what she saw. Sam finds out about the affair but stays quiet. She later tells Danny and forgives her as he promises to not cheat on her again. However, Sam then finds out that Danny has an online gay dating profile, which was set up by Sienna Blake (Anna Passey) in order to drive the Lomax family apart. Danny finds out that that the dating profile was speaking to George Smith (Steven Roberts), so he visits him and they end up kissing. Danny's bisexuality is outed to the whole school when Sienna messes with the sound system to broadcast Danny and George's conversation to the whole school.
It is revealed that Danny is in fact Peri's grandmother and that she is the daughter of Leela and Cameron Campbell (Cameron Moore). Danny and Sam decide to leave the village with their family when they find out that Cameron has been released from prison, wanting to keep Peri away from Cameron. However, Peri does not want to go, and when Leela reveals to her the truth about her parents, Danny and Sam decide to leave the village on their own. Before leaving, Danny disowns Ste when he finds out that he revealed to Cameron that they were leaving. Tegan and Peri secretly call Danny and Sam to ask them to pick them up, but as Sam and Danny are driving, another car smashes into them and kills them. The Lomax family is devastated to learn this, with Ste taking an overdose following a meltdown. Cameron is eventually revealed to be the other driver, but claims it was an accident. However, he later reveals that he targeted them on purpose as they were trying to take his daughter away. Cameron is eventually arrested for the murders of Danny and Sam alongside several other people that he killed. Leela names her second child, Daniel Lomax, after Danny.
Reception[edit]
Early in Danny's stint, Billington felt that viewers were very "intrigued" by Danny, with the actor revealing that he had received many "very lovely" messages on Twitter, which he had signed up for when he joined the soap.[3] Kilkelly called Danny being revealed as Ste's father a "shock" and "such a big Hollyoaks twist".[3] Sophie Dainty believed that Peri discovering Danny's affair had put him in a "difficult position".[18] Simon Timblick from Metro listed Danny as a long lost relative who "really shook up" Hollyoaks, writing "Remember when Ste Hay almost slept with teacher Danny Lomax on a drunken night out, who was then revealed to be his long-lost birth dad? Yikes!"[39] A writer from Digital Spy placed Ste finding Danny and his family as one of Ste's most memorable moments, commenting that "Hollyoaks loves to give people whole new families more or less out of nowhere", and noted how despite Danny "being interested in Ste's future husband John Paul", Danny had still "come within a hair's breadth" of "getting off" with his own son.[40] In November 2013, Daniel Kilkelly from the same website believed that Danny was "happily married" despite pursuing a relationship with John Paul, and wrote that it was clear than the two men's connection was "still much more than a friendship".[15] Tina Campbell from Metro wrote that Danny's life was not "short of drama".[41] Carena Crawford from All About Soap called Danny "dodgy" and a "dirty dog" and wrote that it seemed that Danny had been "up to his old tricks again" in regards to the storyline with George.[24] Crawford also wrote "OMG!" in regards to Danny being outed by Sienna, and wrote that she was surprised that the Lomax family were "stupid enough" to be taken in by Sienna's lies.[24]
David Brown from Radio Times wrote that tensions were running high and "there was an air of desperation" when Danny and Sam attempted to "evade Cameron's clutches".[31] Brown also called the pair's crash a "shock" and reported how fans were wondering whether Danny and Sam had survived the crash, and questioned how the Lomax family would deal with the "fresh drama".[31] A writer from the Daily Mirror called the car crash "devasting" and a "horror smash".[31] Metro's Campbell called the reveal of Peri's true parentage an "inevitable emotional aftermath" and reported how fans were shocked by the crash, adding that whilst a car crash had been teased, she believed online reaction from fans showed that nobody "anticipated" that it would be Sam and Danny.[33] Campbell reported on how some fans found the "huge surprise" of the crash "too much" and others were speculating over who the driver was.[33] Campbell believed that Danny disowning Ste was one of the "most shocking things" of the episode, but added that "nothing prepared fans" for the "tragic twist" of the crash.[33] Campbell also questioned if the Lomax family could "seriously take any more heartache" that week and whether it was possible for Danny and Sam to have survived.[33] Campbell later wrote that that she would be stocking up on "tissues in advance" in order to prepare for Sam and Danny's funeral, and commented on how viewers expressed their sadness on Twitter over the deaths.[42]
Charlotte Tutton from the Daily Mirror attributed Danny's death as being one of the reasons why the Lomax family was one of the three most "cursed" families in Hollyoaks.[43] In May 2015, Tutton's colleague, Natalie Corner, named the Lomax car crash that killed Danny as one of the soap's most "explosive" storylines from the past year, writing that "Hollyoaks is never worried about killing off characters without warning".[44] Patrick McLennan from What to Watch wrote that the car crash had a "tragic outcome".[34] Digital Spy's Kilkelly noted that Cameron's charms "fooled us all" as he made viewers believe that killing Danny and Sam was an accident.[34] Kilkelly believed that the "horrifying" hit and run was one of Cameron's most villainous moments, commenting "how convenient" it was that the crash happened just as Danny and Sam were trying to take his daughter away.[37]