They originally consisted of Gordon Cunningham (Bernard Latham) and his ex-wife Angela (Liz Stooke), and their children: Dawn (Lisa Williamson), Jude (Davinia Taylor), Cindy (Hayley Fairclough/Laura Crossley/Stephanie Waring) and Max (Ben Sheriff/Matt Littler).
Their storylines include Gordon and Angela divorcing, Dawn's affair with older Jack Osborne (Jimmy McKenna), her leukemia which leads to her death, Cindy's teenage pregnancy, Jude being in trouble with the police, the death of Gordon and his second wife Helen Richardson (Kathryn George) in a car accident and the death of Max on his wedding day to Steph Dean (Carley Stenson).
In 2015, Gordon’s son Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins) was involved in a underaged sex storyline, which saw him become a father to Steph Cunningham-Lomax with his girlfriend Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell).
Other storylines include Cindy's bigamous marriage to Dirk Savage (David Kennedy) when she was still married to Mac Nightingale (David Easter), and had their son Alfie (Richard Linnell), Cindy’s relationship with Luke Morgan (Gary Lucy), and dealing with bereavement when Luke dies of an accident caused by frontotemporal dementia As of 2024[update], none of the Cunninghams are part of the soap's regular cast.
Gordon married Angela, the pair had three daughters, Dawn, Cindy and Jude and one son, Max.
Dawn got pregnant and gave baby Beth up for adoption to the Johnson family and had brought her up as their own.
Dawn and James "Jambo" Bolton discovered Beth needed a kidney transplant.
On Christmas 1997, Jambo proposed to Dawn, who then died after her battle with leukaemia, the same day Cindy gave birth to Holly.
Cindy became depressed at being a 16-year-old mother and contemplated smothering her baby, however she could not go through with it and realised she did love Holly after all.
After social services found out Holly was being abused, Cindy decided to leave Britain for abroad.
A debt-ridden Jude began stealing cars with her father's cousin Benny to pay off the debts.
Realising she could not go to jail, Jude donned a dark wig and used Dawn's passport to flee the country.
She then gave birth to Tom Max became depressed over his stepbrother Lewis's death and decided to make the most of his life, which separated himself from OB.
Clare sped off in the car with Katy and ended up going over a quarry, Max jumped in to save her but she disappeared beneath the water.
Cindy, Angela and Holly attend the funeral of Max, except for Jude, who was still wanted in Hollyoaks in ten years.
Mandy decided to let Tom stay with OB, who was moving to London to be with his girlfriend Summer.
However, Tom realised Steph would be on her own if he left and decided to stay with her, she then became his legal guardian.
Cindy discovered Mandy was having an affair with Warren and threatened to tell his fiancée, Louise Summers.
Holly was then upset when Cindy split up from Rhys and returned to Darren, who had been released from prison.
Cindy split up with Darren after it was discovered he got Jake Dean to confess to Sean Kennedy's murder.
Due to being seen as the Hollyoaks original family, members of the Cunninghams have been popular, especially Max and Gordon.
[1] On 9 May 2008, it was announced that Matt Littler had quit his role as Max and would leave in the late Summer after almost 13 years of playing the character.
[2] In a 2008 episode of T4, Littler reprised his role as Max in a dream sequence that seen him reunited with on-screen father, Bernard Latham (Gordon) in heaven.