Hollyoaks Later kills off Breda - but is Tony about to die (again)?

The hour-long late-night special, the first in a post-watershed slot since 2013, aired on E4 on Monday 6th January and brought Breda's reign of terror to a suitably high-octane end after suspicious Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe) searched her mother-in-law's farm and discovered Tony had been held captive there for months, and hadn't abandoned his family as everyone believed.

• Hollyoaks Later 2020: Everything you need to know

As it emerged kooky nanny Breda was in fact the local serial killer who had been bumping off deadbeat dads as revenge for neglecting their children, siblings Sylver and Goldie raced to track down their unstable mum who trapped them, along with Mercy and Tony, at the farm as she set it alight and started ranting about salvation.

Forced to save his family (and the world in general) from his poisonous parent, Sylver administered death by one of her own knitting needles in the skull as he realised one of her victims was his violent stepdad Vinny, who he thought he had killed almost 20 years ago and went to prison for.

Everyone (bar Breda) dragged themselves to safety outside as the authorities arrived on the scene and the farm exploded, but Tony's life was was left hanging in the balance as he lay on the ground...

The follow-up episode to Later, airing first on E4 at 7pm on Tuesday 7th January, puts Tone in more danger as he's on the hospital operating table at the mercy of surgeon father Edward - who is far from pleased to have his son back in his life having just declared his love for daughter-in-law Diane.

Will Edward assume Breda's murderous mantle and kill Tony to get him out of the way…?

In September 2019 Hollyoaks fooled us into thinking the legendary Mr Hutchinson - the soap's only original cast member - had been stabbed to death by Breda after he discovered her serial killer secret. Tone's life flashed before him in a montage of almost 25 years on screen, and he was even removed from the opening credits in subsequent episodes, but as a social media storm erupted it turned out it was all a ruse.

Just when fans thought the unthinkable had happened a few days later he was glimpsed (barely) alive in a pig cage, having survived the attack, where her remained as Breda's prisoner... until now.

Here's hoping hapless Mr Hutchinson is lucky enough to dodge the the grim reaper once again this time…

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