First 'Hollyoaks' jury details revealed

The first details of the deliberations which took place between Hollyoaks' rape trial 'jury' members have emerged today.

As announced last month, the Channel 4 soap has recruited 12 ordinary members of the public to decide whether Gilly Roach (Anthony Quinlan) is guilty or not guilty following Jacqui McQueen's (Claire Cooper) accusation that he sexually assaulted her.

The jury's deliberations are believed to have taken place last week ahead of Gilly's trial beginning on screen on Monday. Paul Rodley, who was the jury foreman, has now given a first insight into the discussions which occurred on the day.

Rodley told The Guardian: "One of the big issues was consent. Some of the men in the jury had a completely different outlook on the issue from the women, which I thought might happen, but not to the extent it did.

"When you're there and you've watched all the evidence, you forget it's a TV programme and you think of the characters and what's going to happen and how it will affect them. All the points were valid, and I can understand now how a jury could debate for hours and hours."

Bosses at the teen drama have said that the aim of a recruiting a real-life jury was to give the audience a chance to engage directly with the complex issue at hand and give rise to debate. The jury were advised by an independent legal professional to ensure that the process was as true-to-life as possible.

More details of the jury's deliberations are expected to emerge in the coming days as the process has been documented for the Hollyoaks website. Gilly's fate will be confirmed on screen at the end of next week.

> Click here to read our interview with Andrew Moss about the Hollyoaks trial