Loretta Jones

Loretta Jones is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap operas Hollyoaks and Hollyoaks Later. The character is played by Melissa Walton and first appeared on-screen on 26 November 2008 during the first series of the Hollyoaks spin-off Hollyoaks Later as a new love interest for the character Dom Reilly. She made her first appearance in the Hollyoaks series in February 2009 and was the first character to be introduced to the series by producer Lucy Allan. In 2010 Loretta was axed from the series, along with 15 other characters, during a cast cull by executive producer Paul Marquess.

The character development has Loretta having worked as a pole dancer and Walton put extensive research into the role, including visiting strip clubs. Despite this occupation Loretta has been portrayed out of conjunction with the blonde stereotype. She has been involved in storylines which include facing prejudice, body scarring issues and stalking fellow characters. The character is most noted for the series intending to portray her as a child murderer trying to piece her life back together. The plot was subsequently axed having caused a great amount of controversy among the British public after newspapers alleged that the storyline was copying a real-life case. Loretta has been positively received by the media for her appearance and has been dubbed a "blond bombshell". Before Loretta's departure from the series Marquess made changes to the characters persona: portraying her as a stalker being obsessive, calculating and pretending to have leukemia. In her final storyline it was revealed that she had been sexually abused as a child and admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital.