Six lives are changed forever as Leah puts her closest friends to the ultimate test in Hollyoaks

As buried secrets threaten to change everything, will any of their lives ever be the same again?

 4-10 JULY

When Ste wants to be a guest on her podcast, Leah sees an opportunity to get her dad to open up about his feelings. During the recording, Ste feels cornered by the questions and demands to stop. And tensions rise between father and daughter, with harsh words thrown at each other.

Dragging Prince to The Loft for drinks, Leah walks in on the heavies fleeing, and with one holding a knife, Prince steps in front of Leah to protect her.

Imran thanks Prince for looking out for Leah, and Vicky asks Prince to try and stay out of danger, not wanting him to end up hurt.

When Leah arrives at Casa McQueen to thank Prince again, Vicky walks in on it and confronts Prince if anything is going on.

Elsewhere, Frankie supports Caleb at physio and tells him how it’d be her summer ball if she’d have gone to dance school. Wanting to do something so Frankie doesn’t feel like she’s missing out, Caleb calls in Vicky’s help picking a dress out for her. But while helping with his cufflinks, Vicky kisses Caleb!

In the village, a suited-and-booted Caleb asks to make things official with Frankie, before a lavish dinner party leaves six lives changed forever.

In a special double episode on Wednesday, Leah and her fiancé Imran invite their closest friends Frankie, Vicky, Prince and Caleb into their luxurious new houseboat for an elegant dinner party that will leave them facing life-changing decisions.

Having recently returned to Hollyoaks Village with former resident Imran by her side, Leah and her beau welcome their guests aboard their newly refurbished houseboat for what appears to be a glamorous evening of fine dining. But once the hired staff depart, the real reason for the gathering is revealed.

With plans already in motion for her latest business venture, Leah presents her friends with a big proposition: confess a secret you've been carrying and receive £100,000 in return, all in the name of scientific research.

Opening up about her own experiences in America, Leah reveals that things initially failed to live up to expectations until a university lecturer recognised her potential. And the pair are now collaborating on research exploring whether a digital confessional booth app could have genuine benefits by allowing users to anonymously unburden themselves of the secrets they carry.

As part of the study, her friends are asked to record a private video confession, securely encrypted and accessible only to them, before taking part in monthly follow-up sessions to assess the emotional impact. The research aims to examine whether simply voicing a secret aloud, even if nobody else ever hears it, can improve a person's emotional well-being.

Despite Leah's assurances that their confessions will remain completely confidential, not everyone is convinced.

The special double episode sees Vicky, Frankie, Prince and Caleb wrestle with whether to take part in the experiment, forcing them to confront the truths they’ve kept hidden, some even from themselves.

As the night unfolds, viewers are taken deep inside the minds of all six characters as dark truths emerge, buried secrets resurface, and lies continue to spiral out of control.

With relationships pushed to breaking point and loyalties tested like never before, one question remains: Will any of their lives ever be the same again?

Hollyoaks continues Monday to Wednesday at 7pm on E4 with first look episodes available at 7am on Channel 4 streaming