E4 viewers were left in disbelief after tonight’s episode of the Channel 4 soap.
This week, as teased by spoilers, hollyoaks tackles violence against women with a devastating storyline involving Maxine Minniver.
Maxine Minniver is at the heart of a new hard-hitting storyline this week
The character is brutally attacked by an unknown man while walking home alone from a night out
The character played by Nikki Sanderson was in Liverpool with Verity Hutchinson and Theresa McQueen when they tried to get away from a mysterious spiker in Chester.
While there, the girls ventured into a nightclub with their own hip flask and did their best to avoid being taken advantage of.
Unfortunately, Maxine was caught red-handed with the bottle and immediately kicked out of the club – unbeknownst to her friends.
In scenes broadcast tonight on E 4was seen a frail and drunk Maxine staggering home alone, with no money or phone.
After missing a bus to catch up with a bachelorette party and Romeo Nightingale (played by I am a celebrity‘s Owen Warner), Maxine was allowed to board a second bus that took her straight back to Chester.
But her return home took on nightmarish proportions when she was followed by a hooded man who brutally attacked her.
Maxine managed to get away but not without a fight and she returned home startled.
Finally, she decided to take the bull by the horns and report her attacker to the police.
Hollyoaks viewers were heartbroken for the character as she had to go through the difficult testifying process and remembered the events of the night.
Luckily for her, Maxine could count on the support of her friend and buyer Zoe Anderson (Garcia Brown).
“I’m lucky he didn’t rape me,” she said, adding, “I’m lucky that I escaped.”
“When he pulled my hair, I thought ‘this is it, I’m going to die’.”
But like any other victim of such an attack, a distraught Maxine blamed herself.
She started going over every decision she could have made otherwise to avoid being attacked.
“I should never have gone out dressed like that. It demanded attention.”
“If I hadn’t worn such a short skirt, none of this would have happened.”
“I should never have worn my hair in a ponytail, I read it online. It made me an easy target.”
While Maxine blamed herself for being drunk and not fully charging her phone, Zoe brought her to her senses and claimed she had done nothing wrong.
Viewers also reacted to Maxine’s words.
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Good news finally reached Maxine when Zoe received a phone call announcing that the attacker had been caught — and viewers were once again in high spirits.
Most of them didn’t believe Maxine’s aggressor was caught so quickly.
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How will she deal with her attack?
Hollyoaks airs Monday through Friday on Channel 4 and E4.
Maxine made all the decisions she could have made to avoid being attacked