Delving into The Psyche of Hollyoaks Serial Killer Breda McQueen

After 20 months of grief and turmoil for the Hollyoaks villagers, serial killer Breda McQueen (Moya Brady) was eventually unmasked as the murderer who had efficiently been bumping off the village 'bad dads.'

 In a special late night episode of the soap, we watched as Sylver (David Tag) and Goldie McQueen (Chelsee Healey) learn't of their Mother's murderous antics. After a fit of rage, Breda shot her son with a bolt gun, and unable to forgive herself, decided to set the pig farm alight so that both herself and Sylver could find redemption in heaven. However, a fight eventually ensued between the nanny and Sylver's ex-lover, Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe), in which Breda attempted to stab the woman with a shard of glass. The quarrel led to Breda's gruesome demise, after an act of self-defense left Sylver pushing his Mother's wooden knitting needles through the back of her head, killing and leaving her to burn in the hellish flames.

 

Many viewers rejoiced to see the killer-nanny finally dead after a storyline that was deemed 'too long and ridiculous.' But did the McQueen really deserve to die and at the hands of her adopted son?
Below we delve deeper into the serial-killer's mindset and examine her journey.

Exploring Breda's Past and Psychology; 

- One of Breda's first victims was her own Father, she shot him with a bolt gun and fed him to the pigs. We learn that her Father psychologically and physically abused both her and her Mother when she was a little girl. Since the age of six-years-old, Breda's Father would take her to watch the slaughter of pigs, and was punished if she cried.
This childhood abuse and trauma would be sure to leave a mark in Breda's psyche.

- Breda was a dedicated Catholic, hugely religious, she acted on the belief that she was doing 'God's bidding,' by saving kiddies from their 'bad dads' and that it was her mission to act as God's proxy - bringing "...wrath upon those who harm a child."

- As a victim of childhood trauma, its a possibility that Breda tried to compensate and find reason for her suffering by turning to her religion for answers. Perhaps she had to find a reason as to why God had let her suffer such horror at the hands of her Father, and had decided that she had suffered so that she could help other children in similar situations. She told Louis Loveday before his death that, "I survived the worst Dad ever, no kid should ever suffer the way I did."

- I think its likely that Breda had a Messiah complex (also known as Christ complex or Saviour complex). It refers to 'a psychological construct which makes a person feel the need to save other people and a state of mind in which an individual holds a belief that they are destined to become a saviour' (Psychology Today, 2017).
Not only had Breda suffered as a child herself, but she had also witnessed many children abused by their Fathers whilst working as a Nanny and had seen both Goldie and Sylver suffer at the hands of their 'Father,' Vinnie - her partner. Its a lot of abuse to witness at the hands of men, so its no surprise that the Nanny developed such a complex.

The Victim's; 

1) Her Father was her first victim. After years of abuse, she shot him with a bolt-gun (the instrument he used to kill animals), and fed his body to the pigs. Her Mother had assumed he had ran away.

2) Sylver's Dad, Wes, was her second kill. Known as Peter as a child, Breda worked as his Nanny, before adopting him and renaming him Sylver McQueen. After his Mother died, his Father became emotionally and physically abusive towards him, until Breda eventually killed him by hitting him with a statue and burying him in a field.

3) Vinnie was Goldie's biological Father and the man whom Sylver believed to be his real Dad. He was an alcoholic who abused both children and Breda. After a fight, Sylver pushed him down the stairs as a teenager and believed that he had killed him. However, it was Breda who found and finished him off. Sylver went to prison for the crime.

4) Carl Costello is Breda's next known victim. He kidnapped Goldie McQueen and threatened to kill her if Bobby was not returned to him. Upon getting Bobby back, he escaped into the woods and Carl gave chase. Breda found Carl first and hit him with a rock.

5) Glenn Donovan was a criminal boss and horrible Father. He abandoned his sons, but convinced Liam to join his criminal empire. Upon realising his eldest son, Adam, was working as a police informant, he shot and murdered him. Breda poisoned Glenn's beer and killed him in return.

6) Russ Owen was a man who cheated on Mercedes with her cousin, Goldie McQueen. Upon learning that she was pregnant, Russ pressured her into getting an abortion. Breda killed him by hitting him with a hammer on his wedding day.

7) Louis Loveday left his family; Simone, Zack and Lisa to be with Leela, in which he fathered a child, Daniel. He then had an affair with Simone's sister, Martine and played all three women - putting them above his children. He survived the initial attack in which Breda pushed several shelves on top of him. She held him captive at the pig farm, believing that God wanted to give him another chance to redeem himself. However, Breda eventually believed that Louis was incapable of change and forcefully killed him with a telephone.

8) Mac Nightingale is a man who won't be missed. A manipulative psychopath, he did not care for any of his children. He blackmailed Breda after finding out she had murdered Louis Loveday. She poisoned some lasagna - which she tricked him into eating, before hitting him with the dish. 

9) Harry Thompson's shock death was the saddest. Breda wrongly believed that Harry was going on the run and abandoning his newborn son, after he was accused of Grace's hit and run. However, this wasn't the case. Breda stabbed him with a chisel and buried him in the woods.

10) She imprisoned and attempted to murder Tony Hutchinson next. Although Tony was a great Father, he suffered a breakdown and abandoned wife Diane and daughter DeeDee at their time of need. Upon his return, he learn't of Breda's murderous campaign and she stabbed him with a chisel. However, like Louis, Tony survived and Breda kept him imprisoned in a pig pen with the belief that God wanted him alive. After he attempted to escape with Mercedes, Breda stabbed him with a pitchfork.

11) After Darren Osbourne convinced his Father, Jack, to remain in the UK, it ruined Breda's chance of freedom. She stabbed him with a kitchen knife in a fit of rage. He survived the attack.

12) John Paul was collateral damage after he uncovered Breda as the village serial killer. She drugged his herbal tea, with the expectation that he would die. However, the dosage wasn't high enough to kill him.

Breda has to be the soap's most brilliant and developed serial killer - just look at that body count! But as a product of nurture, rather than nature, she was just a traumatised and damaged woman who had suffered and witnessed a hell of a lot of abuse of children at the hands of their Father's. It was a tragedy to see such a strong and ill woman, murdered by her own son in such a violent end. To see the character facing up to her deeds in a prison psychiatric unit, would have been a much fitting farewell to the character - played so monstrously by Moya Brady.