Hollyoaks - Cheryl Brady (played by Bronagh Waugh)

We first met Cheryl in Hollyoaks Later 2008, Kris and Malachy's childhood friend in Belfast who had a massive crush on Zak Ramsey and a habit of bursting into Irish dance.

Joining Hollyoaks proper, we soon discovered Cheryl had a heart as big as her giant OMG necklace - which sadly hasn't stopped her being living proof that there's no such thing as 'the luck of the Irish':

Though she can fall in love at the drop of a hat, Cheryl found it hard to come to terms with the love of her life Malachy marrying Mercedes and later dating her bezzy mate Lynsey, and she was devastated when he died in the Il Gnosh fire of 2010.

Her engagement to Gilly ended when he realised he was in love with Cheryl's other bezzy Steph (who also died in the Il Gnosh fire. See a pattern emerging here?). Though Cheryl was briefly reunited with Gilly in 2011, she was left broken-hearted when he confessed to raping Jacqui and subsequently left Hollyoaks for good.

Other than that, she's had a dalliance with Heidi Costello's gay-but-not interior designer Alfonse, a crush on Calvin Valentine (who died), drunken one night stands with Rhys and Barney (not that she could remember the latter) and a short-lived romance with Warren Fox, who cheated on her with Mitzeee - but more on him in a minute.

Though she's unlucky in love, her big win in the lottery seemed to be the silver lining of the cloud. Buying The Loft and renaming it Chez Chez (geddit?), she was delighted when her brother Brendan arrived to help her run it. Alas, like others before her, Cheryl discovered that the village's premier night spot is something of a poisoned chalice, she and Brendan becoming entangled in all sorts of murky gangster business with the likes of Danny Huston, Warren and now Joel over who owns how much of the club.

As it stands, Cheryl now owns 2% (We think. It's all very complicated) and is instead pouring her energies into studying for a business degree at HCC in a bid to improve herself. You go girl!

When she isn't looking for a man or studying, Cheryl is a loyal sister, aunty and friend. She stood by Brendan when he came out as a violent, abusive, closet homosexual who had been, by turns, sleeping with and beating up one of their barmen Ste Hay and lead the campaign to free him when he wrongly took the rap for Silas' string of murders.

As with many in the village, it was Silas who proved to be Cheryl's Achilles' heel - choosing not to believe Lynsey's claims that he was the local serial killer, even though this would have helped Brendan! Lynsey was, of course, proved right and Cheryl was duly repentant. Since then, she and Lynsey have been trying to rebuild their friendship - helped by a number of raucous boozy nights out with the Hollyoaks Book Group (one of which ended in a police cell!).

Juggling studying, running a busy club and keeping her rowdy bro out of trouble, Cheryl has her work cut out but we're hoping 2012 is the year when this lovely lady's luck finally changes.

About Bronagh Waugh

Bronagh's first acting gig was in the Thai soap Khrop Khrua Angrit. She's also presented on MTV Asia and appeared in Miss Conception alongside Heather Graham.