The pair leave Leela suspicious.

Note: This article contains discussion of child loss and drug dependency.

Hollyoaks will feature a major new pact between Joel Dexter and Mercedes McQueen next week, after Warren Fox’s shock arrest forces them to work together.

Warren was recently arrested under suspicion of murdering his mum Norma Crow, after he discovered her body in her flat following her fatal shooting by gangster Blue, whose real identity has now been revealed as Dave Williams.

With Blue’s associate Rex Gallagher having planted the gangster’s signature blue bullets in Warren’s home, Warren has been arrested for Norma’s murder and is now in prison.

With Warren’s son Joel having recently experienced a drugs relapse following the loss of his baby son, Noah, Mercedes is desperately trying to hold things together for jailed Warren.

Next week, Mercedes visits Joel and tells him that Warren isn’t pleased that his son hasn’t been to visit him while they wait for Norma’s post-mortem results.

Joel is thrown into another panic when wife Leela tells him that he’ll need to be drug-tested when he goes back to work as a firefighter.

Joel agrees to visit Warren and he heads to the prison with Mercedes. Warren speaks to the pair about how he’s been set up, vowing to find out who was responsible and take revenge on them.

Warren also realises that Joel is using drugs again, and when Joel leaves, Warren begs Mercedes to help get his son clean again. But Joel clearly has other ideas, as he asks Mercedes to help him cheat on his work drugs test.

Furious, Mercedes rages at Joel for trying to go to work in his drug-influenced state, but the pair don’t realise that Leela is getting suspicious of them. She’s soon cornering Mercedes in the park, wanting to know what’s going on between her and Joel.

Joel later meets Mercedes again and thanks her for her help, promising that he’s going to stay clean from now on. Mercedes tells Joel that he owes her and she wants him to give an alibi to Warren, as there’s a two hour window of time that Warren can’t account for on the day of Norma’s murder.

But Joel feels torn, panicking about the prospect of being sent to prison himself if he’s found out.

When Leela spots them together again, she quickly gets the wrong idea. She confronts Mercedes, accusing her and Joel of having a secret fling.

With Mercedes fed up of the accusations, she tells Joel that she’ll fill Leela in on his drug taking if he doesn’t go to the police with an alibi for Warren.

Will Joel give in to the pressure, or will he have to confess all to Leela?

Hollyoaks airs these scenes in the week commencing August 26.

Hollyoaks streams first online via Channel 4 each weekday at 7.30pm. Episodes then air on E4 the following day, before getting their YouTube premiere a week after that.