Charlotte Lau is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Amy Yamazaki. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 9 June 2009 and was introduced by series producer Lucy Allan as the ex-girlfriend of Lydia Hart (Lydia Kelly). In September 2010, it was announced that Yamazaki and Charlotte had departed Hollyoaks and her final scenes had already aired, with Charlotte making her final appearance on 17 September 2010.
Character creation and casting
In May 2009, in an interview with entertainment website Digital Spy, Hollyoaks series producer Lucy Allan announced that a number of students at Hollyoaks Community College would be moving out of Halls of Residence in preparation for the new term. Former BBC Three Coming of Age actress Amy Yamazaki joined the cast as Charlotte Lau, the new barmaid at the SU Bar and ex-girlfriend of established character Lydia Hart (Lydia Kelly). She made her first on-screen appearance on 9 June 2009. In July 2009, it was announced by the media that Charlotte would become one of the new of students. Charlotte was noted for being the second homosexual female character to be introduced in 2009.
In September 2010, Yamazaki was unexpectedly written out of the show. After her departure, the Hollyoaks official website confirmed her final scenes had already aired. Fans of Charlotte became angry with executive producer Paul Marquess because they thought he had axed her. In reality Yamazaki had quit to concentrate on her writing. Whilst interviewed by entertainment website Digital Spy Marquess stated: "I just want to put the record straight that Amy who played Charlotte wanted to go, because I think a lot of people were really angry with me for 'axing' Charlotte – which I didn't! She wanted to go off and write, so that's why she fell off an arch!"
Characterisation
Charlotte's personality has been evident from inception. She has an alternative dress code, with Channel 4 publicity stating that she is a 'Tokyo grunger'. She is also described as super friendly, funny and cool and knows how to hold her own. With script writers referencing on-screen that she may be unhinged. After the character had appeared on-screen for a brief period of time her style was described as 'funky and feisty' and has been applied a trend of bold clothing to create a 'Tokyo pop' look.
Charlotte is also very open about her sexuality and makes reference to it on-screen on a number of occasions. In October 2009, Amy Yamazaki, whilst talking about the character's sexuality, stated in an interview with PA: "As far as I'm concerned, acting is just acting whether you're kissing a boy or a girl. Chances are you're not going to fancy them – they're just people you work with. I don't want to come across as someone who'll kiss anybody but when it comes to an acting job, I don't have an opinion if my character fancies a person whether it be boy, girl or, I don't know, mushroom."
Storylines
Charlotte first appears on 9 June 2009, as a barmaid in the SU Bar and the ex-girlfriend of Lydia Hart (Lydia Kelly). Archie Carpenter (Stephen Beard) immediately starts flirting with Charlotte and is annoyed to find out she is a lesbian, realising many girls in the village are lesbians or have had lesbian encounters. Ravi Roy (Stephen Uppal) is embarrassed when Charlotte tells him she is a lesbian after he flirts with her. On 24 July, Charlotte begins to get closer to Lydia. The pair see Lydia's girlfriend Sarah Barnes (Loui Batley) kissing Rhys Ashworth (Andrew Moss) and assume something is going on, however they are unaware she did it to get music tickets for her and Lydia. After Lydia finds this out, she apologises and the pair kiss. Charlotte watches as they kiss and appears upset. Charlotte teases Nancy Hayton (Jessica Fox) about her sexuality, and is convinced she is a lesbian, although Nancy repeatedly disputes this. When Sarah splits up with Lydia, Charlotte offers her a shoulder to cry on. This later leads to Lydia trying to kiss Charlotte but she retaliates. Lydia storms off after Sarah sees them both and blames everything on Charlotte.