Rachel Hardy is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, portrayed by Jennifer Brooke. She made her first appearance on 26 October 2015. Rachel was introduced alongside her fiancé Nathan Nightingale and his family as a new family unit that would run the local pub. Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood revealed that he introduced Rachel and the Nightingales to bring a sense of community to Hollyoaks. Brooke characterised Rachel as free-spirited and not caring about what others think of her. She gets itchy feet in the village as she wants to go travelling with Nathan. Rachel and Nathan were portrayed as being a perfect couple and childhood sweethearts. However, their relationship is tested several times throughout Rachel's stint on the soap, including when Nathan kisses Porsche McQueen and when Rachel hides Alfie Nightingale's cancer returning from Nathan. Rachel was then killed off in a car explosion caused by Holly Cunningham and she last appeared on 29 March 2016. Rachel's departure had not been announced prior and Garfield later explained that the character was always meant to be short-lived. Rachel's death impacts Nathan and was used to show other sides of his character. Rachel's death was seen as emotional and tragic by critics.
