| Character Profile | List of appearances |
Alfie Nightingale (né Teddy Cunningham) is the son of Cindy Cunningham and Mac Nightingale, and the adoptive son of Marnie Nightingale. He is also the half-brother of James, Nathan, Ellie Nightingale, Holly, Hilton Cunningham and Juliet Nightingale.
Biography[]
2001-2015: Backstory[]
Alfie was born in 31st August 2001 to a then midlife Cindy Cunningham and to a wealthy Mac Nightingale. Mac would later 'adopt' Alfie however this was to hide the fact to Mac's then wife, Marnie Nightingale that he had an affair behind her back. Alfie grew up with his half brother and sisters, James, Nathan and Ellie Nightingale however Alfie grew up believing that they were in fact his adopted brothers and sisters and not in fact half blood related. During his early years in life, Alfie sadly developed a rare form of leukaemia to which he thankfully survived.
2015-2016: Arrival[]
Alfie was first seen when his family moved into 1 Stockton Lane to run the pub known as The Dog in the Pond which his father, Mac had purchased off Jack Osborne. Alfie has a little run in with local teen, Tom Cunningham outside Price Slice but he struck up a friendship with Nico Blake and the two became quite close friends for some time. Alfie then developed a crush on Nico but was upset when she made it clear she does not feel the same way at all. Alfie tried his best to impress Nico and on two occasions managed to get himself in trouble the first incident was when he brought in his two pet Bearded Dragons into the school and then the second occasion was when he decided to set off some fireworks at the local City Wall which went wrong both times did not impress Nico but the two where still seen to be good friends. Nico told Alfie that her ex-boyfriend, Dylan Jenkins died quite a few months back but she's believes that there is a serial killer in the hospital as they have been so many deaths similar to Dylan's this freaks out Alfie.
As the Nightingale's along with Alfie settle down after their first month in The Dog and seemingly quite happy with their new life Alfie's brother Nathan discovers that Mac was in fact married to Cindy Cunningham after Alfie witnesses a nice interaction with his father and Cindy and assumes to Nathan that Mac is having an affair. this prompts Mac to reveal to Nathan that Alfie is in fact his biological son and not his adopted son that they all think and reveals that Cindy is in fact his biological mother too and then tells Nathan that one of the main reasons he moved to the village was so Alfie can bond with Cindy, Nathan agrees to keep quite about the truth leaving Alfie in the dark for now. when the Nightingale's get ready for Alfie to meet with his adopted mother, however, she fails to show up this upsets Alfie and Mac's then younger girlfriend, Neeta Kaur comforts him this makes Alfie come up with the idea that he wants Neeta to adopt him, this shocks Mac he then disagrees as this will reveal Alfie's real parents and his then marriage to Cindy unknown to the family. after all is seemingly forgotten Alfie collapses upstairs in The Dog, Mac is besides himself when he finds Alfie lying on the ground he is taken to hospital where it is revealed that Alfie once had cancer a rare form of leukaemia when he was a child and Mac assumes that he had returned however much to the Nightingale's delight nurse, Tegan Lomax tells them that the cancer has not returned, Alfie then tells Neeta that he wants her to adopt him to which she is delighted by and promises to take very good care of him.
As all that was happening, Alfie confided his feelings about being let down to his then unknown half sister, Holly Cunningham but Alfie does not know how to thank her he then talks to Holly's ex, Jason Roscoe who gives him the idea to buy the girl flowers not knowing Alfie is talking about Holly. Alfie buys the flowers and as his nervous to give Holly the flowers himself. He puts them in her school locker however Holly does get the flower but she assumes they are from Jason and later ends up embarrassing herself at a Christmas party that is being held while this is happening, Nico tells Alfie that she is starting to fancy Jason and thinks Holly is having an affair but Alfie unknown to him has feelings for his half sister. Alfie later decides he wants to find out who in fact is his birth father unaware it is in fact Mac, Alfie gets the assumption that local businessman, Tony Hutchinson could be his father but he needs a DNA test to prove so he pitches a fork that was used by Tony but also by Mac but Alfie has no idea Mac used the same fork. the day of Mac and Neeta's wedding day arrives and Alfie receives the DNA test he asks Tony if he can be of aid with the buffet to which Tony agrees too and this gives Alfie great excitement so much so Alfie manages to forget his bag he had with him with tests inside Tony attempts to shout Alfie back for his bag but when he sees the DNA tests inside, Tony is shocked to learn that Alfie is 'his son' however after a few weeks Alfie actually learns the truth that Mac and Cindy are in fact his biological parents much to his shock. This also prompts Alfie's step mother, Marnie who had arrived at this point to discover Mac slept with Cindy behind her back fifteen years ago. Angry with Mac, Alfie tells him he wants nothing more to do with him. Alfie then packs his bags to go live with his mother, Cindy to bond with her the two do so and Cindy is saddened to learn that Alfie suffered from, Hodgkin's lymphoma, a rare form of leukaemia, when he was a child. Cindy then pleas with Alfie to forgive Mac and move back in with the Nightingale's to which he eventually does so.
2016: Cancer return and relationship with Jade Albright[]
Alfie starts to befriend local young teen and new arrival, Jade Albright and the two of them become very close friends and they then form a relationship but Alfie shows signs of his Hodgkin's lymphoma from when he was a child but unknown to Alfie himself. Jade was also suffering the same symptoms. Alfie is gutted when he finds out that Jade has the exact same cancer he had as a child while also finding out himself that it had returned. Currently unknown to Jade, but Alfie seems the stronger minded out the two of them due to going through it as a child but Alfie has not told anyone in his family that his cancer has returned but he supported Jade especially when she was very worried about losing her hair to the chemotherapy but Alfie vows to support Jade and the two then shave their hair off in support of one another and he then tells Jade his cancer has also returned.
Nathan's then girlfriend, Rachel Hardy discovers the results that he has cancer or looking likely to have and has an appointment, Alfie begs Rachel not to tell Mac or Nathan about the fact his cancer has returned. Rachel then tells him she will keep quiet for now but she will be going to the appointment with him to which Alfie sees no choice but to agree to. They visit the doctor's where they fully confirm that Alfie's cancer has returned. Later, Alfie confides in Jade about the results but is unknown that his mother, Cindy, is listening in and she's devastated to overhear that Alfie's cancer has returned. Cindy then tells the Nightingale's that his cancer has returned and they are all left devastated. After the family have all found out, Alfie tells Rachel in the upstairs bathroom that he wants her support when he goes to his appointments. Rachel agrees to do so but unknown to Alfie and Rachel, Alfie's stepmother, Marnie was listening in. Marnie then reveals to the Nightingale's that Rachel knew of Alfie's cancer all along whilst pretending to be Alfie's older half sister, Ellie Nightingale. This angers Nathan and he cancels any plans he and Rachel had to go to South Africa as they were planning on going for a while.
Alfie then pleas with Nathan to forgive Rachel as he was the one that made her keep quite about his cancer returning, Nathan does so and he and Rachel set off to the airport to go to South Africa but tragedy strikes when Alfie's half sister Holly crashes her car into Nathan and Rachel while attempting to stop her ex Jason and his brother, Robbie Roscoe from leaving who also are leaving for South Africa but Holly does not manage to stop them. Nathan manages to get out but Rachel ends up stuck and an explosion is seen to happen and Rachel is killed, leaving the Nightingale's along with Alfie devastated. as the Nightingale's come to terms with finding out about Rachel's death Alfie finds out that his chemotherapy has not been working at all.
However, Alfie and Jade continued to support each other through their ordeal as they received the same treatment from the same hospital but while Alfie's treatment finally seems to be working, Jade's treatment isn't and eventually Jade is told that she is sadly going to die. This devastates Alfie but he remains strong for Jade, and in November. Jade sadly ended up dying in Alfie's arms while in hospital. He then says a tearful goodbye at her funeral.
2017-2019: Nathan's death, schizoaffective disorder and departure[]
At the start of 2017, Alfie is still missing Jade so much so when he has an emotional break down, he hallucinates Jade. In the hallucination, Jade tells Alife that no matter what she will always be by his side this gives Alfie comfort however Alfie still continues to hallucinate her and when his family notice Alfie is having an emotional breakdown he locks himself away from them in his own bedroom where he sees Jade again. This time she tells Alfie that he needs to let go and he doesn't need her anymore Jade then disappears with Alfie devastated.
By February, tragedy struck for Alfie and his family when his brother, Nathan was accidentally killed by Mac following a scuffle after Nathan learned of the affair of Mac and his then girlfriend, Lisa Loveday. Alfie takes Nathan's passing bad but receives support from both his family and friends. Alfie is angry when he discovers that his sisters, Ellie and Holly had both been raped by Nick Savage and angrily blames Cindy. However, Alfie later apologised for blaming her. Alfie was also left further devastated at the death of his ex step mother, Neeta when she was supposedly killed in an explosion however unknown to Alfie and everyone else. Neeta had in fact been murdered by Mac. Mac's sinister behaviour was exposed by December. However, Alfie didn't believe his father was so cruel and when he was pushed out the window by his sister Ellie. Alfie was left devastated. Mac was then left in a "locked in syndrome" state and taken away to be cared for.
By 2018, Alfie starts to hear voices in his head telling him things such as people don't listen to him and only think of themselves. Alfie at one point convinced himself that a meteorite was going hit Planet Earth and destroy all life unless he prevents it the voices in his head tell him he must act fast his friends at the time, Tom Cunningham and Yasmine Maalik realise that something is up with Alfie they then convince him to get the help he needs after a talking too Alfie accepts he needs help.
By the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, Alfie starts to think he wants to be else where in his life and in doing so Alfie learns of Mac's true nature before he leaves as Mac returned in May 2018. Alfie learns that his own father is a killer whom killed his older brother, Nathan and Neeta and that he abuses his other older brother James and of his torment of his own mother, Cindy, Alfie decides he wants nothing more to do with his father. By the end of January, Alfie decides to leave Hollyoaks and go live in America.
Quotes[]
| “ | Yeah, it ripped. | ” |
— First line, about one of the moving bags.
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| “ | Alright I'm going. And guys... I love you all, so much. | ” |
Intro[]
- 2015-2016: Alfie plays a video game then holds his pet lizard, Barry.
- 2016: Alfie is looking at stars through a telescope with Jade.
- 2016-2017: Alfie is looking at stars through a telescope.
- 2018-2019: Alfie is in Esther's Magic Bean, play-fighting with Tom Cunningham, Peri Lomax and Harley Frater.
