Hollyoaks’ actress Isabelle Smith is at the heart of the Channel 4 soap’s harrowing abuse storyline at the moment
Actress Isabelle Smith joined the long-running soap opera Hollyoaks as Francine Osborne at the start of this year, and she’s become an integral part of the Channel 4 drama in recent months.
Fans of the show will know all too well her character – best known as Frankie – is being sexually abused by her twin brother, JJ Osborne (played by Ryan Mulvey).
In a recent episode of Hollyoaks which left viewers in floods of tears, Frankie summoned the courage to tell her stepfather Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson), that she’s been routinely assaulted by JJ.
She eventually told her mother, Suzanne Ashworth (Suzanne Hall), of her brother’s abuse, but the matriarch was reluctant to believe the teenager at first.
Isabelle taking a selfie with beau Adam Seel (Image: Instagram/@is.abellesmith)
The abuse began for Frankie at the age of nine, and viewers learnt the disturbing reality of the situation in March during scenes which were difficult to watch.
Fans have been blown away by the acting abilities of Isabelle, who plays Frankie, but Hollyoaks isn’t the star’s first soap gig.
Isabelle has previously appeared in the soaps Coronation Street and Doctors as well as the ITV dramas Ridley and Maternal.
She portrayed a character called Sonya in the Weatherfield soap in June 2022 for three episodes who was a love interest and classmate of troubled teenager Max Turner (Paddy Bever).
The 22-year-old trained at the Arden School of Theatre in 2020 and graduated last year with a BA in acting before landing her role on Hollyoaks. She landed her Corrie role during her studies.
The actress got emotional discussing the response to her Hollyoaks abuse storyline in a recent interview with Metro.co.uk where she had the chance to speak to abuse survivors.
She tearfully shared: “It makes me quite emotional because through Instagram people reach out to me. And on TikTok, obviously, the storyline has gone viral on there, and we have so many people supporting us that way.”
Isabelle went on to explain how overwhelmed she gets by the number of messages from girls, boys, women and men who thank her for raising awareness through her role on Hollyoaks.
“They say to me, ‘Thank you for doing this because I feel like I am being seen and heard,'” she added.
Fans have compared the talented actress to Killing Eve star Jodie Comer who hails from Liverpool and has featured in huge TV dramas such as the BBC series Doctor Foster as well as Hollywood films like The Bikeriders which stars Tom Hardy and Austin Butler.
Isabelle previously said in a Hollyoaks Q&A that Jodie Comer would be one of her “dream dinner party guests” as would former Corrie star Michelle Keegan as she’s a huge fan.
Away from her acting career, Isabelle is in a relationship with accountant Adam Seel and she regularly shares sweet snaps of him on her Instagram account in light of her thousands of followers.
It’s not clear when the couple started dating, but Isabelle’s been sharing pictures with him on Instagram since last December.
