List of Hollyoaks Characters (2008) - Eli

Eli showed up on 8 April 2008 and surprised old friend Barry 'Newt' Newton. Newt and Eli met in foster care when Newt was 8 and Eli was 12, and the pair had kept in contact ever since. Eli was AWOL from the army and Newt agreed to hide him in his room. He was mentioned before his appearance when Newt and Lauren Valentine discovered the body of Sean Kennedy. Since arriving, Eli began making Newt do pranks, however, the small pranks eventually got more serious, to the level of making a smoke-bomb and planting it in The Loft, and trashing Evissa, which began to scare Newt who did not want to go along with Eli, who made him. Nobody other than Newt interacted with Eli.

On 20 June, Lauren found videos that Newt made, of him performing actions that Eli had supposedly done. Finally, whilst Newt and Eli were chanting 'Eli's gonna get ya', Eli disappeared and it was revealed that he never existed. He was Newt's alternate identity, acting out all Newt's thoughts. Newt was then diagnosed with Schizophrenia, and Eli was an audible hallucination caused by this. While in hospital, Newt told Lauren the full story. Eli had been a real person who had been Newt's friend at the children's home. However on 25 October 2002, Newt's 10th birthday, Eli had had enough of years of foster care and hanged himself. Newt found the body a couple of hours later and was scarred for life. Eli returned in December 2008 after Newt stopped taking his medication. He managed to stir things between Newt and Lauren, which ended up in Lauren going to hospital. Eli left when Lauren burnt his belongings, and Newt threw him out. When he opened the door, Eli was gone.

It was announced Eli would return in September 2009. Newt stopped taking his medication and a vicious attack on Gaz Bennett made him feel like no one believed him. Due to both reasons, Eli returned. Newt Made a friend called Rae, who was suicidal. Eli took an instant disliking to her, taking over Newt's body to attack her however Newt managed to take control before any real harm was done. Newt and Rae decided to commit suicide together, to free themselves, however Rae was revealed to be another persona due to Newt's schizophrenia. Ready to jump into a dockland, Newt pushed in Eli, who did not resurface.