Clare Devine

"You know something that amused me? Your drunken mess of a girlfriend told so many lies, that when she actually told the truth, no one believed her. There's a moral in that, somewhere. Oh yeah. Liar, liar, the lush is on fire!"

- Clare Devine.

Clare Devine (previously Cunningham) is a villainess in the British soap opera Hollyoaks. She was first played by Samantha Rowley, but Gemma Bissix took over from her, after it was revealed that Clare was to turn evil.

History

Relationship With Max

Clare Devine first appeared in Hollyoaks in 2005, as an events manager for the nightclub The Loft - and as Max Cunningham's new girlfriend. She was first seen as a friendly and bubbly young woman - but, that soon changed. She intended to marry Max, so she could possess his money. Meanwhile, despite turning him down months ago, Clare seduces businessman Sean Kennedy - after discovering he is a wealthy man.

When Mel Burton catches them together, Clare uses Mel's alcohol problems against her when she tries to reveal the affair. As a result, Max sides with Clare, whilst his best friend O. B. sides with Mel. When little Tom overhears Sean and Clare talking about their affair, Clare even tries to turn Max against him - by framing him for drawing on the walls of Max's flat and pours water on his bedsheet, and blames Tom for it. When O. B. discovers that Clare intends to leave with Max's money, she plants drugs in his pocket and has him arrested. He is later released, and storms Max and Clare's wedding - and tells Max of her plans.

But, Max once again sides with Clare, and attacks O. B. After Max announces he wants a child, Clare tells him that she was sexually abused as a child and left infertile as a result, leaving Max devestated. During this time, Clare has a fling with Warren Fox. Mel and her sister, Sophie, find CCTV evidence of it and show O. B. The three of them then meet with Clare in The Dog, where they blackmail her into leaving Max - saying they will show him the DVD if she doesn't. Quickly, Clare leaves, and doesn't recognise the wanted Sam Owen, as he appears outside The Dog.

When Clare returns home and starts to pack, Max also returns, claiming that The Dog is on fire. Hopeful, Clare unpacks her belongings. When Mel and Sophie die in the fire, Clare later visits O. B. in hospital - where she threatens to smother him with a pillow. She then later disposes of the disc containing the CCTV footage.

Plot To Kill Max

Later, when Max catches Warren and Clare snorting cocaine in The Loft, Clare says she is doing it because of the sexual abuse she suffered. Max, to impress her, takes some cocaine - and this results in a heart attack. Whilst he is recovering in hospital, Clare discovers Max's life insurance policy - which is £500,000 - and decides to kill him and flee the country, leaving little Tom with nothing. When Max comes home, Clare begins secluding him from his friends and tampering with his medication.

She later decides to take Max and Tom away for a Christmas holiday - in a secluded cottage in the country, which is near the lake. Although Clare is supposed to be looking out for him, Max is actually becoming more and more ill. When O. B. phones Clare to find out where they are, because Max is in the same room, she pretends that he has said something else ("Oh yeah, we're having a lovely time"), before then cutting him off, telling Max the signal went. Max later discovers that his pills have been tampered with, and confronts Clare about it - because he is now suspicious of her.

When Max faints following the confrontation, Clare drags him back to the sofa and lays him down - and contemplates smothering him there and then, but decides against it. However, she decides that the time has come to kill him... Locking Tom in the car, she throws his jacket into the lake - and runs to the cottage screaming. She tells Max that Tom fell in the lake - and, without thinking, Max rushes out and, seeing Tom's jacket, jumps in to save him. However, after he jumps in and searches for Tom, he sees Tom locked in the car. He turns to Clare, who is watching him struggle for his life - and, rather callously, she says, "My mistake", before then leaving him to die.

However, O. B. - after finally learning where they are staying - turns up, and when Clare suddenly feigns concern for Max, he punches her and dives in to save Max. Clare is later arrested, whilst Max is taken to hospital. As Clare is arrested, Max apologises to O. B. for not believing him about her. Although questioned, Clare is later released without charge.

Return / Rivalries With Max, Warren and Louise

Clare later returns to Hollyoaks, and picks up Tom from school, without telling anybody where he is. Naturally, this causes untold worry for Max - who later finds him in the flat, only for Clare to then turn up. She tells Max that she is going to make his life miserable - and provokes him into attacking her, by telling him that it was a good thing his father died. Max strangles her, but doesn't kill her: he instead lets go, and leaves the flat with Tom. Max and O. B. later come back, to find that Clare intends to sell both the flat and The Loft.

Later, having been visited by Max and O. B., she hits herself and calls the police, who she tells Max did it. Max, O. B. and Tony force their way into the flat, and actually physically drag Clare out - then throwing her out onto the street, just as the police are arriving. Max is later arrested for assault - but, because of O. B. and Tony's testimonies that he never hit Clare, he is released without charge. Max later signs The Loft over to Clare, and manages to reclaim his flat. With The Loft now being run by Warren Fox,

Clare almost immediately becomes his rival. When Warren hires Justin to work at The Loft, Clare later seduces him so he will take her side. Clare later tells Warren that Justin and Warren's sister, Katy, are in a relationship - and because Warren later beats up Justin, he is arrested for assault. After finding out from Justin that Warren murdered Sean Kennedy, Clare then has Warren arrested.

Who Pushed Clare?

Revenge on Justin Burton / Exit

Return / Later Arrest