The following is a list of characters that first appeared on the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks in 2001, by first appearance. The year saw the introduction of many new characters including the Hunter family.
Jason Cunliffe
Jason Cunliffe, played by Alex Reid, first appeared in 2001 and made his final appearance in 2002. In 2009, a tabloid newspaper reported that Reid was to return to the show, however a spokesperson confirmed that this was "absolute nonsense".
Jason is a footballer who lived the high life and always got what he wanted until he meets Geri Hudson (Joanna Taylor). Geri instantly falls in love with Jason, or rather for his status, and the pair become Hollyoaks' very own 'Posh and Becks'. Geri wants to marry Jason, but Jason had other things on his mind as he oftens has regular affairs with his book publisher, Alyson. He also makes a pass at Geri's rival Izzy Cornwell (Elize du Toit), but Izzy has none of it and tells Geri what happened. Jason admits to Geri, who forgives him.
Geri sees Jason's true colours when he has a night party in his mansion, despite agent Dion telling Jason to recover from his injury. During the night, Jason's team-mate Scott Anderson (Daniel Hyde) attempts to rape Geri and Jason fails to do anything about it. Realising that Jason treats her like a 'trophy', Geri decides to hit him where it hurt the most: in his pocket. Geri threatens Jason for him to marry her, or else she will tell the press what he is really up to. After getting married, Geri throws Jason out of the car, leaving him to realise that she is going to take him for every penny he is worth after what he had put her through. Feeling embarrassed, Jason leaves the village.
Jon O'Brien from Metro called the character a "womanising footballer who got on the wrong side of wife Geri".
Brian Drake
Brian Drake was played by Jonathan Le Billon.
Brian is a goth who dates Zara Morgan (Kelly Condron). He is very religious and Zara pressures him to have sex, though they do not have sex. He cheats on her with Steph Dean (Carley Stenson) at a party at Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard)'s House. Brian became friends with Lisa Hunter (Gemma Atkinson) and asks her to sing in his band. They end up going out. When Brian finds out about Lisa's self-harming, he tries to help. In helping Lisa he neglects his revision and fails his GCSEs. Brian then stalks Lisa with threatening text messages. Lisa at first thinks it is Cameron, but when she discovers Drake is the culprit, he leaves the village.
Dion
Dion is a football agent who took extreme measures to get what he wanted. Dion was Jason Cunliffe and Scott Anderson’s agent and had to keep the pair in line, making sure that they stayed out of trouble. However the pair did get themselves in deep trouble when they faced serious allegations. Scott had raped Beth Morgan, but in order to protect his reputation, he protested his innocence. But the major worry for Dion was Jason’s wife-to-be, Geri Hudson, who had been treated roughly by Jason and threatened to go to the press unless she received a large payment. Dion was clearly aware that if Jason paid Geri, he knew that would affect his payment as agent and therefore he would have to reach an agreement with Geri. In order to keep Geri sweet, Dion began to date Geri’s mother Jackie and warned Geri that he would tell her mother what she was really up to. Geri had the last laugh, however, after confessing to her mother and then failing to sign a contract agreement on her wedding day with Jason, which allowed Geri to take Jason for every penny he was worth. Dion failed to get what he wanted with Jason but managed to get the better of Beth Morgan during her trial against Scott. Despite Dion’s co-worker Alyson going against him and defending Beth, Scott was found not guilty, leaving Dion to get his own way.
Dan Hunter
Daniel Simon "Dan" Hunter is a fictional character on the long-running Channel 4 British television soap opera Hollyoaks. He was played by actor Andy McNair who made his first on-screen appearance in April 2001. The character was killed in a car explosion in 2004 after the actor quit.
Dan was the first Hunter to arrive in Hollyoaks, opening his own garage (later owning Dan's PitStop), followed by the rest of his family. Sensitive, yet extremely volatile and moody, Dan was extremely private about his life, which is why the first person he got involved with, Izzy Cornwell, did not last very long. She accused him of being on drugs and spread the gossip around college. In reality, he was not; instead he suffered from diabetes.