Hollyoaks - Propp Characters

Will vs Dodger Story Plot

There is a major build-up of event concluding with the battle between half-brothers, Will and Mark (AKA Dodger), seeing Will murder his own wife and mother, fake disability for attention and threatening his family, ending with Will (labelled the ‘Villain’ in Propp’s Stock Characters) finally “losing it”, kidnapping his whole family and tying them up in his murdered mother’s house. It is Sienna, Mark’s sister, whom is the ‘Dispatcher’ in the story plot, leading Mark to the scene, however not for a positive reason, as he is now aware of her recent fake pregnancy. He follows her to the house, her being there due to her holding hostage a young boy, Tom, which none of the characters is aware of at the time. They stumble in to the house, finally coming across Will and the rest of their family tied up by Will. Dodger, portrayed as ‘The Hero’, tries to talk Will out of their murder, which he admits he is planning to do, although is unsuccessful for the time being. Dirk (Will’s father and Dodger’s step father), ‘The Helper’, joins Dodger in talking Will out of murdering them all, however while helping Dodger, Will gets angry that Dodger is getting the credit, therefore pointing the gun to Dirk’s head.

Will then mentions the relationship of Maxine and Patrick, Dodger and Sienna’s real father, who are sat at the table, also tied up. He starts by mentioning the affair that Maxine had with Dodger, Maxine being ‘The Princess’, when Will asks Dodger who he should kill next, with Dodger answering, “Patrick”. Patrick, however, uses this as his own plan, escaping from the ties and tackling Will to grab his gun, which fails, labelling Patrick as the ‘False Hero’. Patrick fits in to this stereotypical role of the False Hero by being in a relationship with Maxine, the princess that is attracted to the hero, as well as trying to tackle the situation himself, however failing.  

The plot ends on a one-on-one battle between the Hero and Villain, Dodger and Will, leading to a roof top fight. While fighting, Will shouts at his brother the problems that he has, mentioning that he feels and outcast and neglected by his family as Dodger is the “favourite”, also touching upon that he wishes he was dead. As of this, Dodger says, “you want to die? Just Jump,” with Will actually doing so. Dodger catches his brother before he falls, hanging from the roof, saying he would always be his brother, no matter what. Will decides that instead of letting Dodger save him, he wants to punish Dodger, pulling him over the edge with him. In the spare of the moment, we, as the audience, are left to believe that both characters are to die, however Dodger lands on top of Will, with the scene ending with Will stating “I can’t feel my legs”, being ironic as he, for months, has lied about him having a disability and being unable to walk, delivering Will his “comeuppance”.

You can see that the story between Will and Dodger concludes by fitting in to Propp’s theory of his stock characters having 31 functions to play, creating the narrative. The narrative follows the functions of;

1. Hero leaves: Dodger leaves to go to the house.

1. Interdiction: He has a spat with Sienna, her making an Interdiction not to go in to the cellar, although that is based on the plot of her kidnapping a child being held captive, not the storyline of Dodger vs Will.
2. Villain appear: Will appears and takes Dodger in to the room where the family is held, Dodger not knowing of Will’s revenge just yet.
3. Trickery: Dodger is fooled in to thinking Will is there for another purpose, however soon knows that it is on the basis of his family capture.
4. Harm: Will tries to attack Dodger with the gun.
5. Testing: Dodger is tested by Will when he is trying to stop Will from murdering his family. Dodger is asked the question, “who will be murdered next?”
6. Misfortune: They are all unsuccessful in stopping Will, leading to the final conflict on the roof.
7. Resolution: The story concludes when Will falls from the edge however pulls Dodger down with him. Dodger survives but Will is injured.
8. Recognition: Dodger is found by family members rescued by the police when Patrick manages to call them. Will is taken and sent to jail, leaving the scene however on a stretcher in to an ambulance.
9. Punishment: Will is injured and cannot move, damaging his legs and becoming partially paralysed.

[Kira]