Frankie Osborne

Francine "Frankie" Osborne (also Dean) is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Helen Pearson. She made her first on-screen appearance on 9 October 2002. Frankie is the longest serving female in the show.^[1]

Storylines

In October 2002 Frankie arrived alongside her family, Johnno, Jake, Debbie and Craig when they joined Steph who arrived two years earlier in March 2000. Johnno left her in 2004 with his girlfriend after discovering she was pregnant, leaving Frankie heartbroken. When Johnno came back to Hollyoaks, he and Frankie were finally divorced, but Frankie forgave Johnno for his infidelity and the two remained friends, and right after her divorce, she married Jack Osborne, followed by five years being a widow after the death of his wife Jill Osborne. All their family attend, except stepdaughter Ruth, who couldn't attend the wedding.

In 2006, Frankie fell pregnant. She was happy about the news although the rest of her family were not. Frankie unfortunately suffered from a miscarriage early on in her pregnancy. Frankie found this difficult to accept and it took her some time to move on. The nadir was when the Dog was destroyed in an explosion Jack and Frankie were out for a meal when the Dog exploded and Frankie and Jack nearly lost Darren, Steph, Craig, and Jake as they were trapped inside the pub when it exploded and caught fire. While they used insurance money to rebuild the pub, they stayed at a grimy bed and breakfast where the owner constantly treated them poorly. They were kicked out, and briefly lived with the McQueen family until finally Frankie could take no more and forced Jack to use the insurance money he had been pocketing to pay for a nice hotel until they could go back to their apartment.

Frankie was very concerned with making sure Becca's newborn son (although they were unsure of the paternity, Jake lied to them and said he was the father) stayed with them while Becca was in prison. Becca eventually agreed, and when Becca was soon killed in a prison fight, Charlie came to live with Jake full-time. Frankie and Jack then went away for a while, and returned from holiday only for Frankie to receive the news daughter Debbie had been in a car crash. Frankie went off to look after her. After Jake confessed his love for Nancy, Frankie was disgusted about it. Nancy couldn't believe that she would put her prejudice before her own son.

Frankie returned in 2007. John Paul referred to her as a homophobe after she told him he had already failed at turning her son Craig gay (at which point she was unaware that John Paul and Craig were secretly sleeping together). Jack was a little more supportive. When she discovered the truth about Craig's sexuality, she refused to believe he was gay and tried to convince Craig to try to get Sarah to forgive him and go to Dublin. When Craig came out to his family Frankie was disappointed, which hurt Craig. Frankie reluctantly accepted her son's relationship with John Paul. The day after Craig left for Dublin, she was shown drinking a glass of gin and reading his acceptance letter, smiling.

To get over the loss of Craig, Frankie decided to take in a foster child. Their first attempt, a little girl named Daisy, ended quickly due to Darren's hostility towards her, but then they took in a moody 15-year-old emo boy named Newt. He got taken back into care after being accused of taking Frankie's jewellery. It was discovered that it really was Darren when Carmel was buying Christmas presents for her family and ended up buying Frankie's ring from a pawn shop. Frankie then borrowed the video from the pawn shop which showed Darren selling the jewellery. Whilst Frankie and Jack argued with Darren about it Warren and Louise walked into the pub where Warren revealed that Darren had bet with him and lost his fifty percent of The Dog In The Pond to Warren. This led Jack to suffer a heart attack.

On 22 January 2008, Frankie was told that Charlie had an acute form of leukemia, Nancy and Jake pleaded with doctors to run tests to see if either of them were eligible to donate their bone marrow to Charlie. Later on doctors confirmed that he could not donate bone marrow as he was not Charlie's biological father, confirming that Justin Burton (who had an affair with Becca) was in fact Charlie's dad. Jake later confesses that when he took the DNA test last year, he threw away the results and without opening them. Frankie was hurt by this when she knew that Jake could've confided in her. When Nancy tried to find Justin, Jake protested and told her that Justin wasn't going to go anywhere near Charlie. Frankie slaps Jake in order to calm him and tells Nancy to find Justin. After Frankie and Nancy's past problems, since Charlie's cancer, Frankie and Nancy's relationship had become more of a friendship.

Frankie is concerned when Jack borrows £100,000 in cash from a loan shark to buy back Warren's share of the Dog. When Carl and Anthony, criminal friends of Warren's, raid the pub to demand the cash at gunpoint, Frankie stood up to them in defence of Jack and Newt, and the three escape from the incident unscathed after Warren and Mike Barnes come to the rescue.

Frankie was protective of Jake after his split from Nancy, not knowing that Jake had tried to rape Nancy on their wedding night. When Nancy files for custody of Charlie, Frankie was furious, claiming that they were Charlie's real family. While Jack and Steph began to notice Jake's increasingly erratic behaviour, Frankie still stood at his side. She vented her anger at Nancy and Justin, who she blamed for trying to ruin Jake's life, especially after Nancy accused Jake of rape. When Steph came forward and revealed that she had walked in on Jake attempting to rape Nancy, Frankie began to blame her, telling her she was turning her back on her family, despite Jack, Steph and Newt trying to make her see reason. It wasn't until later at the hospital that Jake revealed that he did try and rape Nancy. Horrified that Jake could do this she finally sees her son for what he is. She left him alone to say goodbye to Charlie before taking him to the police. Jake later abducted Charlie and attempted to kill himself and Charlie by gassing them in a car in the woods. Frankie began to frantically search for her son. She later found Nancy with Charlie and demanded to know where Jake was, who Nancy had left in the car to die. At the car that Jake was in, Frankie discovered Jake was gone. She later admitted she was scared for him, knowing that he would try and kill himself again. Jake tried to blame his descent into madness on his father walking out on the family three years earlier; however, Frankie told him that "your father may have been a naive and reckless man; but, for all his faults, Johnno would never have done anything as bad as what you have done".

Warren offered Darren £100,000 to help with money problems if he framed Jake by putting Sean's wallet in Jake's room. Jake got convicted of killing Sean and Louise was released. Frankie didn't believe Jake had killed Sean and accused Louise of framing Jake. Shortly after Eli used Frankie's salon keys to get in to trash the place before writing on the walls DIE and RIP in red paint. The next day a thug entered with an iron bar before smashing all of the glasses and stealing money from the till. Frankie immediately assumed Louise had been behind it. On 27 May 2009, Frankie and Jack found out that Darren had taken a £100,000 bribe from Warren Fox to get Jake to confess to Sean Kennedy's murder before gambling away the money, despite the family being in debt. Frankie and Jack disowned him for lying and gambling away the money before telling him he had been given enough chances. After this, an ashamed Darren stayed in his flat and rarely left, knowing everyone knew about the gambling, however Cindy Cunningham managed to get him a job at a charity event in Il Gnosh.

In October 2009 Jake was released from the mental institute he had been in and had all charges against him dropped due to his mental state, Frankie struggled through and coped with Jake's return. However Jake's return brought back the feud with Frankie and Nancy leading to Frankie handing over Charlie to Nancy as Jake was not allowed near him.

Frankie figures out that Gilly Roach is in love with Steph, however Gilly denies it and says that he loves Cheryl Brady (Bronagh Waugh), his girlfriend. With encouragement from Frankie, Steph tells Gilly she loves him and they get together but the happiness is short lived when Steph finds she has cervical cancer. Frankie finds out from Steph's brother in law Tom Cunningham.

Frankie then discovers that Newt's birth mother Shelley Newton, who returns for a job interview, along with her baby son Jensen Newton. Shelley returns from the interview and announces she's got a job in Scotland. She then asks Newt to come with her and Jensen; he accepts and the reunited family then relocate.

Steph has a hysterectomy and struggles with the fact she will never have children of her own despite raising Tom. Steph and Gilly marry when Steph finds out her cancer is terminal. Frankie struggles to accept the fact her daughter will die before her. Steph saves Amy Barnes and her children during a fire and then decides she'd rather die of the fire than cancer. Frankie breaks down in Darren's arms when finding out the news, and contact her ex-husband Johnno and children Jake, Debbie and Craig of Steph's death and were devastated and cannot attend to the funeral. Frankie begins to blame Gilly for Steph's death and argues with him over the funeral plans and tells him that Steph was still in love with Max and that he would have saved her from the fire. After having Steph cremated; they sat to watch Steph's goodbye messages, however she had died before getting the chance to film one for Frankie. She gets deeply upset to the fact that Steph is dead, but still sets a table for her at Christmas. This left Jack very concerned for her well being. In 2011, Doug Carter attempts to commit suicide by jumping off of a bridge but eventually decides he would be better off alive after conversing with the ghost of Steph. Doug organizes a Christmas party and invites many of his friends, including Frankie and, after being told by Steph's ghost he tells Frankie to look in the CD filled with Steph's messages for her family. She is overjoyed and shocked to find that there is an extra recording entitled "Mum" and Frankie listens to the goodbye message from her daughter.

In January, the Osbornes have an intruder who Tom hits over the head, and it later revealed that the intruder is in fact Frankie's granddaughter. The father was Frankies son, born when she was 16, yet Frankie thought he had died. It is later revealed that Frankie's parents had told her the tot had died, but they then put him up for adoption. She allows Esther Bloom to live with her. In October 2012, Nancy gives birth prematurely after having an emergency cesarean and Jack and Frankie comfort her. Darren blames Nancy for their poor health of their baby, saying that their son might die because of her. He tells her that Nancy couldn't resist getting involved with Mitzeee's problems and storms out. He confesses what he said to Jack and Frankie and, whereas Jack is more comforting, Frankie is angry and she and Darren argue. During this argument, Darren accidentally shouts that Frankie doesn't know what it's like to know a child might die. He immediately realises what he has said but Frankie slaps him and goes to the hospital to see Nancy and the baby. When Nancy asks what Darren told her and Jack, Frankie decides not to tell her that they know about her and Darren's argument and Frankie's subsequent argument. At Oscar's christening Darren apologizes to Frankie and they make up. Jack is the best man at Tony Hutchinson's wedding to Cindy Longford who are sharing their wedding with Ste Hay and Doug Carter however, Darren and Nancy are unable to go because they are in hospital with Oscar so Jack, Frankie and Tom go without them. When a minibus driven by Maddie Morrison crashes into the venue, Cindy awakens in a daze to see Jack taking control and getting people out of the venue. She later sees Frankie screaming and panicking because she cannot find Tom however, Jack runs up and tells her he is safe with the other children who are being looked after by Annalise Appleton. Leanne Holliday calls to Frankie who rushes over to Ste who is lying unconscious. Frankie survives the ordeal without any injuries and helps Ruby cope with the death of Maddie and Neil Cooper. The next day, Ruby's fiancee Jono dies in her arms after suffering undetected internal injuries from the crash and Jack and Frankie comfort her.

Frankie accompanies Ruby and Esther to a memorial held at the college for Maddie, Neil and Jono. Esther breaks down and insults Maddie, calling her a bitch and telling Maddie's mother Elizabeth about how Maddie bullied her. Frankie is furious and orders that Esther apologize to Elizabeth and is unwilling to listen to Esther's explanation. She is told by Ruby that Esther was in love with Maddie and believes this to be the reason Esther broke down at the memorial and does not believe Esther when she tells her that Ruby is lying. Frankie comforts Darren and Nancy when they find out Oscar is deaf however, when Nancy angrily snaps at Charlie for trying to "help" Oscar by attempting to give him pain killers, Frankie chooses to comfort Charlie and tells Nancy she was wrong to shout at him. When Charlie subsequently runs away from home she, along with Jack, Darren, Nancy, Callum Kane and Seamus Brady go out to search for him whilst Mitzeee, Maxine Minniver and Sienna Blake look after the pub. Charlie is taken to hospital and whilst having no serious injuries, the doctors decide to keep him for observation and both Nancy and Frankie immediately volunteer to stay with him. Jack sends them home where Frankie snaps and begins arguing over how Nancy's treatment of Charlie almost caused her only grandchild to die. Esther is standing behind Frankie and, hurt, runs off. Nancy then states that Esther is Frankie's grandchild, not Charlie and that Frankie has no right to tell her how to look after her child. Frankie then slaps Nancy.

Frankie and Esther's relationship continues to become distant when Sinead O'Connor (Stephanie Davis) and Ruby bully Esther and turn Frankie against her. Esther eventually attempts suicide and is rushed to hospital. She is told that she has to have a liver transplant. Frankie is initially furious with Esther for this although eventually apologizes. When Ruby confesses to bullying Esther, she is kicked out by the Osborne's but is later allowed to move back in when she is forgiven by Esther. When Esther receives a new liver and is released from hospital, Frankie becomes over protective of her. When Sandy Roscoe (Gillian Taylforth) moves to Hollyoaks, Frankie accuses Jack of having an affair with her causing problems in their marriage and Frankie accidentally runs over a pregnant Lindsey Butterfield (Sophie Austin) causing her to have a miscarriage. Frankie becomes stressed begins a sexual affair with Ruby's boyfriend, Ziggy Roscoe (Fabrizio Santino) however she and Jack eventually sort things out.

In September 2015, Frankie goes to stay with her daughter Debbie and visiting her ex-husband Johnno. During this time, Jack sells the pub and the Osbornes move to a new home. They also adopt Jade Albright who eventually discovers she has cancer. When she eventually returns, Frankie is stopped by Lindsey Butterfield who, unbeknownst to her, has just been outed as a serial killer. She tells Frankie that there has been an accident and she needs to get to hospital. Frankie lets her get into the van and the two drive off. It is later revealed as a trap as Lindsey has kidnapped Frankie and has put her in the back of the van. Lindsey then phones Esther, who she later meets outside of the vans. Lindsey opens the back doors of the van, revealing Frankie. Lindsey says that if Esther doesn't help her, she will kill Frankie.

In July 2016, after discovering that Esther is planning to marry Kim Butterfield, who she has a strong dislike for, she teams up with Grace Black to try and stop the wedding, sabotaging it by trashing the Osborne house and stealing all of the wedding decorations, however she attends the wedding and accepts it. She is later left devastated as her foster daughter, Jade Albright's cancer returns and she supports her, along with the rest of the Osbornes, despite her anger, bringing memories from Steph back.

Characterisation

The Daily Star described Frankie as a "feisty blonde".^[2]

Reception

Holy Soap described her most memorable moment as being "Almost losing it after suffering a miscarriage in 2006."^[3] Bryan Kirkwood said "I love Jack and Frankie – they're essentially the heart of the show".^[4] Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy branded Frankie a "feisty barmaid".^[5]

References

External links

• Character profile at Channel4.com
• Character profile at Hollyoaks.com