Lucas Hay

Lucas was previously portrayed by three different child actors, Jude Rawley from 2009 to 2012, Rueben Thwaites from 2012 to 2013 and finally William Hall from 2013 to 2022. Lucas' storylines in the serial include: being in various custody battles between Amy and Ste, along with Leah Barnes (Ela-May Demirican); coming to terms with his mothers death; spiralling out of control whilst battling his sexuality after falling in love with his best friend Dillon Ray (Nathaniel Dass), being coerced into conversion therapy by his headteacher Carter Shepherd and his friendship with Frankie Osborne (Isabelle Smith). Curtis' resemblance to Richardson, who portrays his on-screen father Ste and his own similar portrayal of Lucas have been noted by fans and various tabloids.

Storylines[edit]

Lucas was born and delivered by Ste and his friend Daniel Raven's (Chris Hargreaves) wife, Abi Raven (Elaine Glover). His name, Lucas, was chosen by Ste. After his birth, Josh Ashworth (Sonny Flood) tried to stop Ste seeing Lucas, but Amy's sister Sarah Barnes (Loui Batley) blackmails Josh into handing Lucas over to Ste and Lucas moves in with Ste. In July, Amy and Sarah's father, Mike (Tony Hirst) found Ste asleep whilst caring for Lucas. As a result, Mike took Lucas and decided to look after him. Ste found Mike and taunted him about his family, Mike then hit him. The next day, Mike approached Abi about her interests in Ste and Lucas. Ste then told Mike that he would no longer be seeing Lucas and he was going to a solicitor. In August 2009, after weeks of drugging Ste, Daniel went behind Abi's back and interviewed a couple who hoped to adopt Lucas. Ste was pushed to the limit and almost shook Lucas, Daniel used this as an excuse to give him to the adopters. Sarah and Mike's ex-girlfriend Zoe Carpenter (Zoë Lister) help Ste as Abi took Lucas. Abi then made the decision to hand Lucas back to Ste. When a fire is set in Il Gnosh while Lucas and Leah are being looked after by Amy in the flat above, Steph Cunningham (Carley Stenson) saves them after the fire spreads. In 2012, Amy moves away from the village and takes Lucas and Leah to live with her. Lucas and Leah return to the village in December 2012 to stay with Ste, while Amy goes abroad with her new fiancée. Amy returns to the village in February 2013 after discovering Ste's relationship with Brendan Brady (Emmett J. Scanlan) she then leaves once more with Leah and Lucas, leaving Ste upset. Ste begins a relationship with John Paul McQueen (James Sutton) and they later get married in December 2014. They later separated and Ste later begins a relationship with Harry Thompson (Parry Glasspool). In August 2016, Amy returns with her fiancé Ryan Knight (Duncan James) and they begin battling custody of Leah and Lucas with Ste and Harry. In December 2016, Amy and Ryan won full custody and they keep Leah and Lucas away from Ste when they tell them not to see Ste. In March 2017, Amy and Ryan get married. The next day, Amy gets murdered by an unknown person and Ste gets arrested for Amy's murder. After Mike returned, he tells Leah and Lucas that Amy has died. In August 2017, when being looked after by Tegan, Lucas tells her that he saw Ryan with Kyle Kelly (Adam Rickitt), and Ryan lies to Lucas that he wasn't with Kyle. In September 2017, Amy's mother, Kathy Barnes (Sarah Jane Buckley), decides to take Leah and Lucas but they stay with Ryan, which leads to Kathy leaving the village. In November 2017, Ryan and Ste's half-sister Tegan Lomax (Jessica Ellis) tell Leah and Lucas that they are in a relationship and Leah and Lucas are worried when Tegan is going to replace Amy.


In 2023, Lucas' behaviour begins to spiral out of control. He is constantly getting into fights and practicing underage alcohol consumption; he is struggling with his sexuality as we see Lucas begin to start catching feelings for Dillon Ray (Nathaniel Dass). James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan) believes Ste is being too easy on Lucas – tough love would be appropriate for the behaviour he has been portraying – however Ste doesn’t agree. James later locks Lucas in a shed in the bare middle of a woodland area in a bid to scare him. James also then gets physical with Lucas in an argument and Ste later finds out about this on Christmas Day 2023. Ste and Leela both publicly announce James' recent patterns of behaviour in the pub and Leela threatens James: he then moves out of the family's home. In December 2023, conversion therapist headteacher Carter Shepherd (David Ames) turns his attention to Lucas, and starts pro-longingly starts to manipulate Lucas and then turn him against his sexuality.


In 2024, Lucas starts a friendship with Frankie Osborne (Isabelle Smith). JJ Osborne (Ryan Mulvey) is jealous of the male attention that Frankie has given to Lucas. Lucas later explains to Frankie that he self harms due to his hardships at home. She makes fun of his bible, which was given to him by Carter and he freaks out. He also still contracts strong feelings for Dillon, but is coerced by Carter into fighting his tendencies. He attacks Dillon at the pride festival where Carter is arrested for his crimes.

Reception[edit]

Stephen Patterson from Metro branded the character brave. He also added that Lucas should be "protected at all cost" and the relationship between Lucas and Dillon is "true love in all its glory". The moment of Lucas and Dillon kissing was "heartwarming" for fans.^[17] The gay-conversion therapy storyline was nominated for "Best Storyline" in the Radio Times soap awards 2024.^[37]