Episode 5675

The episode focuses on a birthday party for Walter Deveraux (Trevor A. Toussaint) and features an exclusively Black cast.

The episode formed part of broadcaster Channel 4's Black to Front movement, a day where solely Black-fronted programming was shown.

Plans for the episode were initially announced in August 2020 as a response to the protest movement arising from the murder of George Floyd.

Unbeknownst to Martine, her daughter Celeste Faroe (Andrea Ali) has invited her father Felix Westwood (Richard Blackwood) in a bid to reunite her parents.

Pearl Anderson (Dawn Hope) speaks with Walter about his dead brother Wilfed, who killed himself due to facing persecution for being gay.

Ripley Lennox (Ki Griffin) meets with Brooke Hathaway (Tylan Grant), where the two confess their romantic feelings for each other.

While alone, Nate Denby (Chris Charles) lays out printed cards of numerous residents' social media profiles and picks up Felix's.

The purpose of the initiative was to "amplify the conversations around representation and diversity" a year after the protest movement arising from the murder of George Floyd.

The centre stated that if the initiative were to be handled incorrectly, it would risk people believing that Channel 4 are attempting to capitalise on Black Lives Matter.

[6] In an interview with The Guardian, Hollyoaks's executive producer Lucy Allan stated that the team were prepared to receive criticism following the episode.

However, Allan said that negative comments from viewers would not matter to her or the team and that people who do not understand the concept are "all the more reason" to execute it.

He said that since breathing is the first instinct when emerging from water, it was hard to act like he had passed out, especially due to not being able to train for such a performance.

[7] Due to the cold weather and water during the filming of the stunt, cast members who were involved had to wear wetsuits.

Griffin was happy to be featured in the episode and praised director Robinson for "created an amazing environment for [them] to work in".

She explained that due to his acting background, Robinson could sympathise with the cast members and give individual notes to all of them.

[18] Patterson (Metro) wrote that the "highly-anticipated" episode did not disappoint and that it played a "pivotal role" in Channel 4's Black to Front initiative.