Hollyoaks' best ever celebrity cameos - from Alison Hammond to Rick Astley

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Alison Hammond

This Morning's bubbly host burst into the village in June 2019 playing herself after Maxine Minniver (Nikki Sanderson) impulsively called the daytime show phone-in telling her deceitful sob story about having a terminal illness. Hammond rocked up with a camera crew and a cheque for £5,000 raised by viewers touched by Maxine's plight, not realising she made the whole thing up and is in the grip of Munchausen's Syndrome, a personality disorder in which sufferers feel so neglected and insecure they deliberately fake illness in order to garner attention. Achieving national fame because of her 'condition' only got spiralling Max more addicted to the sympathy…

Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid

For added realism when 'Storm Belinda' hit Hollyoaks village in October 2018 to usher in the annual carnage of the soap's yearly disaster, Good Morning Britain's bickering hosts Piers and Susanna appeared as themselves hosting news reports on the freak weather event engulfing the Chester suburb.

Carol Kirkwood

Not wanting to be accused of an ITV bias, Hollyoaks also roped in BBC Breakfast's beloved weather presenter to make 'storm week' more believable as she fronted meteorological updates on the hurricane that went on to cause the death of tragic Tegan Lomax who was buried under a falling tree.

Ken Bruce

We didn't see the BBC Radio 2 favourite on screen but his unmistakable lilting Scottish brogue was heard on radio reports throughout the storm storyline, warning listeners to stay in their homes. Sadly, none of the characters phoned in for a round of Pop Master to take their mind off the chaos.

Kate Garraway

Another GMB face decamped to Dee Valley Crown Court to cover the sensational murder trial of Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson), accused of killing Amy Barnes in 2017. Ste was found not guilty (it turned out Amy's evil boyfriend Ryan Knight was responsible) only to be shot by Amy's vengeful mum Kathy who was convinced he did it. Wonder if Garraway got all that on camera?

Richard Arnold

There must be some kind of special relationship with Good Morning Britain as the quick-witted entertainment correspondent got a very cushy number care of Hollyoaks in August 2018 when he popped up by the pool during Mercedes McQueen's very messy hen night in Magaluf.

Janet Street-Porter and Linda Robson

Famous faces must follow Mercy around, as by the time her actual big day dawned in November 2018 there were two Loose Women filing into the church as wedding guests. We're not quite sure why…

Alan Carr

In a neat spot of cross-Channel 4 promotion, Crufts Extra – companion programme to coverage of the famous dog show – filmed a behind-the-scenes-at-Hollyoaks spot in February 2018 and presenter Alan Carr shot a non-speaking cameo, which aired a few months later and saw the Chatty Man nonchalantly walking his real life dogs Bev and Joyce through the village as he listened in on a juicy row between Diane Hutchinson (Alex Fletcher), Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard) and Yazz Maalik (Haiesha Mistry).

Jamie Laing

The Made in Chelsea star made a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance as a glorified extra clad in doctor's scrubs in the background of a hospital scene in May 2018. Despite having no lines he claimed to be very nervous, while Hollyoaks star Lysette Anthony (Marnie Nightingale) confessed she wasn't fazed at working with the posh prince as she didn't have a clue he was famous. "Unless they've been on Farming Today or Radio 4 I don't know who any celebrity is."

Rick Astley

Kim Butterfield (Daisy Wood-Davis) spent months incarcerated in a deserted, derelict school with only tins of baked beans and a Rick Astley poster for company. When Kim left the village in 2018 (don't worry, she'd been found) the soap lined up a humorous cameo for the 1980s pop icon, who had become something of a guardian angel in Ms Butterfield's darkest hour. She bumped into him at the bus stop – what are the chances?!

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