Nancy Osborne (also Hayton and Dean) is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Jessica Fox.

Since the character's inception she has been involved in many notable storylines such as a love triangle; coping with the death of her sister Becca (Ali Bastian); marrying Jake Dean (Kevin Sacre); drug abuse; domestic violence; being the victim of two attempted rapes by Jake and Finn O'Connor (Keith Rice); marrying Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson); suffering a miscarriage; prematurely giving birth to Darren's son, Oscar Osborne, who is deaf; an addiction to painkillers; a highly-publicised storyline where Sienna Blake (Anna Passey) attempts to steal Darren and her family away from her; getting brain damage after an attack from Sienna; an affair with Rick Spencer (Victor Gardener); and a fling with Rick's son Robbie Roscoe (Charlie Wernham).

[11] Fox said that when she was initially on the serial she found it "great to be different" but felt that it was difficult playing the "alternative" character of Nancy when her colleagues were such "gorgeous, glamorous women".

Fox revealed how her character's longing to fit in with people like Foz who were different from the rest of society, ended with her taking drugs to be different from others but the same as the hippy scene.

[14] Fox spoke about this saying: "I think Nancy's character is very strong, she's opinionated, but if you take all that away she's still very young particularly then, at the time of the drug storyline she was 16 she still wanted desperately to fit in even though she told everyone she didn't.

[15] The actor revealed that while Jake is in "a desperate state" he accidentally tells Nancy that he made allegations that she was having a sexual relationship with a pupil.

[15] Fox stated that she and the production team were careful not to have the character return to her previous self, saying: "We've tried really hard to make sure that Nancy didn't just snap back into her old self after the whole Jake incident last year.

[16] Nancy, Kris and Ravi decide to carry on having relationships with each other with each other's consent, Fox was shocked when she learned of this development, saying: "No words could describe how I felt when I read it for the first time!

[21] On 19 December 2011 Digital Spy announced that a future storyline would see Darren plan the couple's wedding as a surprise for Nancy.

He said that as far as Darren is "concerned, it's going to be the most perfect day possible and he just can't wait to see the look on Nancy's face when she realises what he's been up to".

He expressed that Darren "brings out Nancy's fun side and she gives his life a bit of order" and felt that the couple are "destined to be the Jack and Vera of Hollyoaks!

"[23] To coincide the storyline it was announced Nancy's mother, Margaret Hayton would return to the serial with the possibility of causing trouble for Darren's wedding plans.

[25] Fox revealed that "there's some really big, emotional stuff coming up" for the couple and that herself and Dawson "spent the last three weeks of filming crying non-stop".

Fox said that Nancy has a bit of a "bad girl" in her which she shows during her confrontations with Mercedes, adding that the character has got "more fire in her belly than maybe we'd realised".

[30] Fox revealed that she researched premature births, reading up on the subject and attending a meeting at the Liverpool Women's Hospital along with a writer for the serial.

The actress added that although the serial tried to stay true to life there is "a bit of artistic licence that goes into the scripts, to make things more dramatic or to let the story flow better".

Nancy and Hannah Ashworth (Emma Rigby) babysit for Mandy Richardson (Sarah Jayne Dunn) and Tony Hutchinson's (Nick Pickard) daughter, Grace.

When Russ Owen (Stuart Manning) saves Nancy from being attacked by student Gaz Bennett (Joel Goonan), the pair begin a relationship.

Nancy, Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson) and sisters Texas (Bianca Hendricks Spendlove) and India Longford (Beth Kingston) begin online dating.

Lynsey Nolan (Karen Hassan) is attacked and claims that Nancy's colleague and friend Silas Blissett (Jeff Rawle) is responsible and that he also killed India.

However, Nancy admits to Darren that she slept with Rick Spencer (Victor Gardener) She is later kissed by her student Robbie Roscoe (Charlie Wernham), leaving her shocked.

She sleeps with Joe but they break up after she learns about Kim Butterfield (Daisy Wood-Davis) Robbie and Nancy spend the night together in a car, but nothing happens after.

In 2016, Nancy discovers that Darren and Maxine buried Patrick Blake's (Jeremy Sheffield) body in the City Wall and she agrees to keep it a secret.

In September 2016, Nancy is interviewed over the murder of Patrick, but when she arrives at the school, her leg starts to spasm and she freezes, breaking down in tears, with Louis taking her to the hospital.

Nancy, along with the Osbornes attend Jade's memorial at Hollyoaks High, when and explosion caused by Mac Nightingale (David Easter) tears through the school.

Kyle's watch is later stolen, and Nancy discovers that John-Paul hasn stole it causing her angry and refuses to see him even though she drop the charges.

When Charlie is arrested for the murder of Sid's cousin Jordan Price, she believes that he is innocent until she and Darren discover that it was Mandy's daughter Ella, who was in fact responsible for it.

Despite their anger towards Mandy, they understand that she didn't want to lose Ella, due to bringing back memories of her late daughter Grace's death.

[38] Crick's colleague Laura Morgan commented on Nancy going into premature labour saying "Our hearts were breaking for the couple as they faced the reality of their situation [...] we're keeping our fingers crossed there will be a happy ending to their nightmare".

Morgan added that "Despite the sad nature of the storyline, it's been amazing (as always) to watch Jess Fox (aka Nancy) and Ashley Taylor Dawson (Darren) acting their socks off, and proving to us once again they're two of the best actors in soap right now".