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Character Profiles > Holly Hoyland Chaya Broadmore, Lucinda Armstrong Hall

Holly Hoyland 2007, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2023-
Born: 2007
Lived: 28 Ramsay Street
Parents: Isabelle Hoyland and Karl Kennedy
Siblings: Malcolm, Libby and Bill
Family Tree: Hoyland and Kennedy
Occupation: Lassiters Hotel Receptionist

The unusual conception of baby Holly took place in August 2006, when former partners Karl Kennedy and Izzy Hoyland had a one-night-stand. Karl was already dating his ex-wife Susan Kinski again, but, after a heart-to-heart with Izzy at Scarlet Bar, she took him home. And, thanks to a mixture of alcohol and sleep medication, Karl believed he was sleeping with Susan, while a lonely Izzy took any opportunity of comfort she could find, only to realise what had happened the next morning. She lied to Karl that she slept on the couch and, after finding herself pregnant, left Erinsborough.

Eight months later, Izzy was living in London, in the midst of an affair with married Premiership footballer Pete Gartside, when Karl and Susan arrived for a holiday. A heavily pregnant Izzy was struggling to cope, after the press exposed Pete’s affair with her and he ended things. But Susan, despite Izzy being ‘the other woman’ in her marriage only a couple of years earlier, agreed to help and arranged a meeting between Pete and Izzy. Susan convinced him that what he had with Izzy was the real thing and his marriage was beyond repair and the lovers were reunited. The following day, Karl and Susan were remarried on a cruise boat on the Thames, but Izzy was also on board, determined to tell Karl the truth about the baby, only to suddenly go into labour. Baby Holly was delivered safe and well by the man who didn’t realise he was her father, and Izzy decided that she couldn’t spoil Susan and Karl’s big day by revealing the truth. But as Susan ran back to the ambulance to return Izzy’s bag, she overheard Pete and Izzy discussing Holly’s paternity and, after agonising for a few days, told Karl the truth, once they were back in Erinsborough.

After getting in touch with Izzy, Karl agreed with her decision that he should stay out of Holly’s life as she grew up, then she could be told who her father was when she was old enough to accept the news. However, knowing that he had another daughter on the other side of the world was too much for Karl to ignore and, a few days later, much to Susan’s horror, he decided to fly back to London and spend some time with Holly. And, eventually, Susan came to accept that Holly and Izzy would always be a part of Karl’s life, and even agreed to be godmother to the child.

Over the years, Karl visited Holly in London when he could, but was not a big part of her life. He and Susan were in for a shock when they received a call from Izzy, who explained that she'd put Holly on a plane to come and stay with her dad for a few weeks. Though Karl was worried that he hadn't been to see her in person for a couple of years, he hoped that she'd still be happy to stay with him, as they spoke regularly on Skype. His fears seemed to be unfounded, as Holly was a polite and well-adjusted little girl - however, as she was left alone with Susan, she suddenly turned nasty, making it clear that she had no interest in spending time with, or even being nice to, her stepmother. Susan relayed her concerns to Karl, but he just put Holly's behaviour down to jetlag and the unfamiliar surroundings. Susan attempted again to bond with Holly the next day, when Karl was unexpectedly called in to work, but Holly told her that she didn't want to spend time with an old woman, and would rather be with her mum, who was young and fun. Later, Susan again told Karl that she was struggling to get along with Holly, but he failed to see the problem, as his daughter was always such a little angel around him, and Susan was left wondering if she and Holly could ever be friends.

When Karl started looking at some of Holly's drawings, he began to realise that perhaps Holly's problem wasn't with Susan, but with Izzy. He tried to get his daughter to open up about her feelings, and she eventually admitted that she felt like her mum had abandoned her, in favour of Neville, her new boyfriend. When Karl tried to reassure her, and pointed out a portrait on the wall, of Karl and Susan's children - Mal, Libby and Billy - it gave Holly an idea. Whilst Callum and Bailey were babysitting that evening, she drew a picture of herself and climbed on a stool to tack it onto the bottom of the portrait. Unfortunately, she fell from the stool in the process, but the incident made Karl realise how much Holly wanted a stable family and, despite the ongoing tension between Holly and Susan, he decided that he was going to apply for permanent custody of his daughter.

When Karl asked Holly whether she'd like to stay with him in Australia, she happily agreed to it, but when Izzy didn't put up a fight for her daughter, it quickly became clear how unhappy Holly was. When Susan and Holly managed to patch up their differences, Susan became concerned that Holly wasn't being honest about her feelings, and would just say anything to please the adults around her. As Holly spent the day with neighbour Lauren Turner, she admitted that she was worried about starting at her new school and that she'd be bullied because her dress was too long, but Lauren could also see that Holly was holding back about something. Susan eventually made Holly be honest, and Holly admitted that she wanted to go home, to be with her mum and her friends in London. Susan broke the news to Karl, who was upset, but after a chat with Holly, he made her see that he just wanted what was best for her, and that if she wanted to be with her mum, then it was fine with him. Karl then decided that he was going to go back to England with her, to help her settle in, and told Holly that he would come and see her at least twice a year, so they could have a closer relationship. Holly then said her goodbyes to everyone she'd met in Erinsborough, and Susan told her that she would be welcome to come and visit again whenever she wanted.

The following year, as Karl mentioned to Susan one day that he missed having lots of family around him, she arranged for Holly to fly over for a surprise visit during her school holidays. Karl was delighted to see her, and was even more pleased when he started performing some of his songs for her and he realised that she already knew all of the words, as he'd sent her a CD of his songs. Karl was impressed with her voice as she sang along with him, and decided to enter Holly into a children's talent quest at the community centre. Holly seemed to like the idea, and she agreed to perform one of Karl's songs, Free As A River, with her dad supporting her on guitar. However, when she got up on stage to perform, with all eyes on her, Holly panicked and ran from the building. Karl tracked her down, and she admitted that she only liked singing to him, but not in front of other people, and she'd only gone along with the idea because she thought it would make him happy. Also during her stay, Holly managed to solve a mystery, when she spotted Victor Cleary - the main suspect in the murder of Kate Ramsay - in a photo and said that he was a friend of her mum's, allowing the police to identify him and his motives for the shooting. Holly then got to briefly catch up with her half-sister Libby, and Libby's son Ben, who arrived for a visit just before Karl took Holly to the airport and she returned home to London.

Karl continued to make regular visits to Holly in the UK, and during one visit in 2017, they went to see Toadie at the hospital, after he was hit by a black cab whilst in London. Over the year that followed, things would change drastically for Izzy and Holly, after Izzy met a much older man named Clint. When word came through that Holly had been dumped on Mal and Catherine for Christmas, Karl, and later Susan, flew out to join them. They returned home to Australia a few weeks later, with Susan furious that Izzy hadn't even bothered to meet them to hand back Holly, but it wasn't long before they found out everything that had been going on. Izzy arrived in Erinsborough dressed as Geri Halliwell, for a 1990s-themed party being thrown for Toadie, and was promptly, but accidentally, clipped by Susan's car. At the hospital, it became clear that Izzy and Holly had some big news to share, and the next day Izzy revealed that she had married Clint the day before his death, and had now inherited £41 million.

It was clear that Susan hated having Izzy so close by, and matters only grew more complicated when another secret came out - Izzy wanted Karl to father another child for her, so that Holly had a full sibling. As Karl mulled over the idea, Susan was kept in the dark and was horrified to stumble upon some pregnancy pamphlets in Izzy's hotel room, then to learn that Karl hadn't completely dismissed the idea. Izzy had been playing to Karl's ego, offering to donate $20 million to the hospital's new research wing, and to make sure it was named after Karl, and he was concerned that she would withdraw her money if he refused to give her another child. However, when he did turn her down, Izzy found another way to get what she wanted - stealing a sperm sample that Karl had given during a trial at the hospital and using it to attempt to impregnate herself. The tension between the adults soon started to have an effect on Holly, who started drinking after finding out what her mum had done, then blackmailing her into signing the paperwork for the hospital donation in front of Karl and Susan, as well as agreeing that they would stick around in the area. Soon after, during a birthday party for Susan at The Waterhole, Karl learnt that his sample had been taken, and he quickly worked out who had taken it, with Izzy saying that it was too early to find out if it had worked yet.

Things then quickly started to fall apart for Izzy, as Clint's daughter arrived in town and forced her to return all of the inheritance that hadn't been spent yet, then the pregnancy test came back negative. After a frank conversation with Karl about her problems, it looked like Izzy and Holly might be staying in Erinsborough, until Karl found Izzy waiting with a taxi on Ramsay Street. She handed over a letter for Holly and explained that she felt that her daughter would be better off with Karl and Susan, before leaving. Holly was left deeply affected by what her mum had done, but did her best to settle in at Erinsborough High and to get to know her dad. But as Susan went to spend a few days in Oakey with Ben and Libby, and Karl learnt that, because they had lost Izzy's donation, the new hospital wing would not be going ahead and Karl was out of a job, Holly began to feel guilty about the way Izzy had messed up the Kennedys' lives. During work experience at the hospital, Holly decided to try and help out her dad by taking some of the research files, believing that Karl could work on them and prove to COO Clive Gibbons that he was a worthy employee. It wasn't long before Clive found out what had happened, when Holly was caught trying to return the files, but she pleaded with Clive to give Karl another chance. The following week, Clive contacted Karl and offered him work at the hospital, compiling the data from the research that had already been done.

Meanwhile, Holly surprised everyone when she announced that she'd been accepted onto an exchange programme between Erinsborough High and the school where Libby worked in China. Susan was touched as Holly explained that she hadn't told anyone about the application as she didn't think she stood a chance - particularly as her mum had laughed at her previous request to go on an exchange to Romania. However, when Karl finally found out, he refused to allow Holly to go, feeling that he'd be letting Holly down if he didn't become a bigger part of her life and sent her off to China. But as it became clear how important the exchange was for Holly, he agreed to let her go, but only if she went back to London first, and attempted to patch things up with her mum. Holly agreed to give it a try, before setting off on her new adventure.

Within a few years, Holly was back living with her mum, and encouraging her to help Mal, whose marriage to Catherine had ended. With Mal spending more time with his half-sister and her mum, it wasn’t long before a relationship began between Izzy and Mal, though when they returned to Australia to break the news to Karl and Susan, it wasn’t long before Izzy was cheating on him with Shane Ramsay. The relationship quickly ended as Izzy admitted that the whole thing had just been an unconscious attempt to get back in Karl and Susan’s orbit and win their favour.

Holly, meanwhile, had started medical school, but like her mother, she couldn’t stick at anything for long, and she was soon off travelling with new boyfriend Eden Shaw, who she met in London. Wanting to see how the news of Izzy and Mal’s relationship was going down, Holly followed them out to Australia, but after seeing her with Shane, Holly decided, with Eden’s encouragement, not to reveal that she was back in Erinsborough. Holly and Eden decided to stick to their plan to go travelling, and they had a chance meeting with a young woman calling herself Kelly. Kelly was actually Krista Sinclair, daughter of the wealthy Conrad Sinclair, but she just gave Holly and Eden a fake name and a vague story about wanting to escape from her rich family who paid her no attention. Krista mentioned that she might be able to get some money from her former housekeeper who now lived in Erinsborough, while Holly accidentally bumped into Mal, who, after hearing the whole story, agreed to keep her secret and offered to help her financially.

Holly then set off travelling around Australia with Eden and Krista, but opportunistic Eden gradually lost interest in Holly, deciding that Krista and her wealthy family were a better meal ticket. With Holly out working, believing that Eden and Krista were doing the same, they were actually hooking up with each other. Eden’s influence over Krista eventually led them back to Erinsborough, where he’d convinced her that she could get more money for them, from her former housekeeper. It was there that Holly found out that Eden and Krista had been hooking up behind her back, and she promptly ended things with him and went running back to Karl and Susan on Ramsay Street.

Holly spoke little about what had happened to her, only telling Karl and Susan that the relationship had ended badly. After struggling to hold down several jobs, Holly was given a chance to work at Lassiters Hotel, when Karl persuaded owner Paul Robinson to employ her. Holly proved to be poor at this job too, turning up late, ignoring guests and being generally rude to people. Unfortunately, she picked the wrong person to be rude to, when wealthy guest Reece Peters turned out to be a member of the Sinclair family, who had become Paul’s silent partners in the hotel. As Holly tried to make it up to Reece by getting her a coffee, things only got worse when Reece found a hair in her drink, and Holly was promptly fired.

Luckily for Holly, her friend and neighbour, hotel porter Byron Stone, had been in a secret relationship with Reece, and was one of the few people whose opinion she actually cared about. Though Byron had stepped back from the affair when he found out that Reece was actually a Sinclair, they’d been forced to spend time together by an oblivious Paul, and had quickly ended up back in bed together. When Reece found out that Holly was actually a good friend of Byron’s, she decided to give her a second chance, and Holly promised that she’d take her job a lot more seriously from now on.

When Holly’s close friend Mackenzie started dating a guy named Ed, who she’d bumped into in The Waterhole one evening, Holly kept missing him, unaware that he was actually her ex, Eden. During a whiskey launch at the vineyard where Eden had been working - which Holly had only attended at the last minute - she spotted him, chasing him into the vines before losing him. As Holly confirmed with Mackenzie that Ed and Eden were the same person, she and her friends went out looking for him. After failing to find Eden, they returned to the restaurant to find that their wallets, the contents of the till and Mackenzie’s bag - which contained her wedding ring from her brief marriage to the late Hendrix - had all been stolen. As they, and the police, struggled to find Eden, Sadie suddenly remembered that her mum had given her tracking devices for her valuables, one of which she’d placed in her wallet. Mackenzie's housemate, Haz and Holly quickly made their way to the address, hoping at least to be able to get Mackenzie’s ring back. At the house, Haz went to look around, and Holly waited in the car, but when she spotted Eden, she decided to confront him, finding him about to dump the empty wallets and bag.

As Holly tried to work out if Eden befriending Mackenzie had just been a way to get to her, refusing to believe that the whole thing was a coincidence, Eden started to turn nasty. As Holly mentioned that the police were already on their way, Eden locked her in a shed, before Haz spotted him and a fight broke out. Eden managed to overpower Haz and make a getaway in a car, and Haz rescued Holly, who was shocked to see his injuries, but grateful for his help. As the pair reunited Mackenzie with her wedding rings, it became clear that the incident had made Holly see Haz in a new light. However, Holly’s attempts, and failures, to get Haz’s attention, soon seemed less important when she found out that Eden was the key to the disappearances of both Krista and Melanie Pearson. Melanie was actually the former housekeeper that Krista had mentioned, and it turned out that, when Mel was working for the Sinclairs, she’d tried to help Krista with her spiralling drug problem. After going to a drug deal to try and convince them to leave Krista alone, Melanie had been left holding the drugs when they were busted. Krista had bailed Melanie out, and helped her to escape back to Australia, but had reappeared in Mel’s life two years earlier, around the time that Holly and Eden had first met her. When the three of them had returned to Erinsborough - and Holly had dumped Eden for cheating on her - Eden had encouraged Krista to try and get more money from Mel.

The plan had ended badly when, during a meeting by the rooftop pool at Lassiters, Mel had angrily pushed Krista away, causing her to fall into the water and bang her head. With Paul Robinson, David Tanaka, Aaron Brennan and Nicolette Stone all aware of Mel’s secret and that Krista was blackmailing her, Mel had rushed to the penthouse to get help, believing that Krista was dead. Wanting to deal with the matter himself, fearing that they could all end up in serious trouble if the truth got out, Paul went to the roof, where Krista was gone, but Eden was waiting in her place. Eden then blackmailed Paul, offering his silence for half a million dollars. Over the year that followed, Eden continued to try and get money out of Melanie, before eventually returning to Erinsborough to try and get more from Paul. When Eden then tracked Melanie down to her new address and broke in, she’d finally had enough of all the secrets and lies, and returned to Ramsay Street to explain why she’d walked out on her marriage to Toadie a year earlier, with Holly filling in the parts about her involvement. She was then stunned to learn that the girl she’d known as Kelly was actually Krista Sinclair, Reece’s sister, with the search for her missing sibling being the real reason that Reece had come to Erinsborough.

Horrified that she’d brought Eden to Erinsborough, and that he’d ruined so many lives, Holly realised that she might be able to help find him, remembering that he often used houses from executor’s auctions to crash at while they were empty. After finding several in the area, she and Haz, along with Byron, Reece and Mackenzie, decided to try their luck. At one of the houses, Holly spotted Eden’s van and, as Haz called the police, she ran over to the house, where Eden was shocked to see her and attempted to do a runner. He was stopped by Holly and Haz and soon arrested, but when Holly spotted one of Krista’s cardigans in Eden’s van, she ran into the house, believing that Krista could be inside. After searching, they found her lying on a mattress in the basement, tired and confused, but very much alive. At the hospital, Krista was diagnosed with pneumonia and was suffering from drug withdrawals, shocked to learn about everything that had happened. At first elated from Eden having been arrested, Holly received a text from Krista, thanking her for saving her life, and went into shock, realising how close she'd come to ending up in a similar position with Eden. As Haz comforted her, they ended up in bed together - Holly was delighted to have finally got her man, until Sadie mentioned that Mackenzie already had feelings for Haz but hadn't acted on them. Horrified that, like her mum, she was stealing someone else's man, Holly offered to back off, but Mack insisted that she wasn't ready to move on from Hendrix, giving her blessing for Holly to start seeing Haz properly.

It wasn't long before Holly was making herself at home at no. 32, not realising that she was irritating Haz in the process. Having tried to explain to her that he needed some space from time to time, Haz finally snapped when Holly spat out some of his imported coffee that he'd just brewed, telling her that he didn't want her to be constantly by his side, eating his food and using his things. Fearing that the relationship was over before it had properly begun, Holly was relieved when Haz later apologised and explained that he just needed some time to himself from time to time.

With things seemingly improving, Haz was shocked when he spotted an almost-naked Byron leaving Mackenzie's bedroom one morning. Assuming they'd had sex, he told Holly and before long, word got back to Mackenzie that she was being talked about. Hurt that Haz had jumped to conclusions without even talking to her, she told him that nothing had happened, and that she and Byron had just gone out drinking and dancing, then talked for the rest of the night. Haz wasn't so sure, accusing Mackenzie of taking advantage of Byron, who was devastated after being dumped by Reece. Mackenzie then blurted out that it was Haz that she was actually interested in, and he then confided in Byron that he wished that he'd known that before he got together with Holly. When Byron then passed that information along to Holly, she was left feeling incredibly insecure about her relationship, particularly as neither Haz nor Mackenzie mentioned anything to her. With Christmas only a few days away, Holly, Haz, Mackenzie and Sadie held an early gathering - when Mackenzie gave Haz a scarf she'd knitted for him, Holly was left feeling more concerned than ever. As the others went outside for a swim, Holly destroyed the scarf, then later allowed Trevor the dog to take the blame.

Worried that Trevor was starting to suffer from separation anxiety again, Haz checked the camera he'd set up to keep an eye on him, shocked to see that it was Holly who'd destroyed the scarf. Realising that the relationship was becoming unhealthy, Haz and Holly decided to take a break from each other, but Holly continued to be uncomfortable with Mackenzie's presence. When a party was arranged for Christmas Day at no. 32, Sadie mentioned to Holly that one of her friends was planning to bring Richie Amblin - Mackenzie's ex-boyfriend - with her, but she'd told her not to, as things hadn't ended well between them. Wondering if a distraction might help to get Mackenzie out of Haz's orbit, Holly contacted Richie and invited him herself. When Mackenzie found out what Holly had done, an argument broke out between them, just as Holly was trying to get the Christmas tree out of the pool, where it had fallen during the party the previous night. As Holly fell in, Mackenzie walked out of the backyard, ignoring what had happened, unaware that Holly's dress was tangled in the tree and she was trapped underwater. Fortunately, Haz spotted her and rescued her in time, reuniting the couple, but leaving Holly unwilling to forgive Mackenzie for what had happened. She then told Haz that she wanted either him or Mackenzie to move out of the share house, and Mackenzie realised how bad things had become and decided to go and visit her dad for a while, to give everyone some space.

With Mackenzie temporarily out of the way, Holly found her relationship with Haz facing a new problem when Karl started to interfere. Feeling that Holly was trying to change herself for Haz, and aware of the rumours about him and Mackenzie, Karl tried to make Holly see that she could do better. It was only when Mackenzie returned and the two friends patched things up, that Holly finally came to her senses and told Haz that things were over between them, and that, if he wanted to try and make a go of things with Mackenzie, she would give them her blessing.

Having moved on from Haz, Holly was surprised to bump into a man at Harolds one day, offering to pay for his coffee when his card was declined. After learning that he was Andrew Rodwell's younger brother, Felix, who'd just been released from prison on parole, she decided to set her sights on him. After suggesting to Wendy and Andrew that they should throw Felix a welcome party - and then learning that they were already organising one - Holly bought herself a new dress, planning to ask Felix out. After finally getting Felix to herself, Holly decided to make her move, unaware that Jools, another guest at the party, was Felix's girlfriend. When Jools overheard Holly talking to Felix, she immediately got territorial, warning Holly off and smashing some cake onto her head as a final warning.

Trivia Notes
• When she arrived in Erinsborough in 2013, Holly's age had been increased slightly to 8-years-old, though she was born on screen in 2007 and should only have been 6-years-old. By 2022, it was mentioned that Holly was 19-years-old.
• Chaya Broadmore played Holly in one episode, when she was born in London, in 2007. Lucinda Armstrong Hall took over the role when the character was reintroduced in 2013. After several guest appearances, Holly became a regular character in 2023.

Magic Moments
Episode 5179: Holly's Birth
Episode 6686: Holly's Return