Hollyoaks reveals chilling reason why Felix is blackmailing Walter

Shady Felix blackmailed his kids' God-fearing granddad into helping him build bridges with son Mitchell Deveraux, threatening to reveal something worried Walter really didn't want going public.

And now viewers know what that is - turns out Felix sold Mitchell's siblings, Toby Faroe and Celeste Faroe, for a hefty sum and Walter knew about it, but deflected his own shame by making Martine feel guilty all these years for getting pregnant out of wedlock at 17 to the local bad boy.

The shock admission was overheard by Mitchell's boyfriend Scott Drinkwell, who Walter begged to keep quiet for fear his family would turn on him for keeping such an explosive secret.

This latest development adds to a complex backstory already full of numerous narrative curve balls drip-fed by the show over the last year - which RadioTimes.com will try to summarise… Ready?

Tension between Martine and Walter has been evident since the revered Reverend moved to the village to reconnect with his clan. At first fans put it down to tales of minxy Martine's flighty past which saw her prioritise her career as a long-haul flight attendant over raising her son, who was practically brought up by his grandfather.

Then it emerged Martine had actually given birth to twins but been forced by her dad to give one away, to minimise the shame on the family at the time.

In December, glamorous music producer Toby Faroe moved to the village, later revealed as the aforementioned secret Deveraux sibling all grown up and out for revenge on the family that abandoned him.

Then in March came the epic payoff that Martine actually had triplets - and the third was a girl, Celeste Faroe, who had been posing as Toby's wife but was secretly in on the plan for vengeance.

Celeste tracked down long-lost father Felix who has been desperately trying to make amends for running out on his offspring, but now it emerges he callously gave two of them away (Mitchell was kept by Martine as he was not expected to live due to health complications) in exchange for cash, before doing a runner.

Walter was aware but said nothing, seizing an obvious opportunity to get Felix out of his daughter's life - but while they both thought the kids had been given to a childless couple to adopt, Toby and Celeste were actually raised by the psychotic Dr Ramsey Ley as part of a twisted social experiment that inflicted extreme psychological damage.

Basically, Walter is culpable for most of the misery his family have endured and has been lying for years, which doesn't go with the protective, moral patriarch image he likes to project - now Felix is back and Scott knows the truth, will his betrayal be exposed? And can the distressed Deverauxs possibly stand another skeleton tumbling out of the closet?

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