Darren Hughes is a former student at Waterloo Road. He was friends with Barry Barry and Lenny Brown. In Series 10 he starts a relationship with Rhiannon Salt following the tragic death of his mother. Darren was shown to live in poverty with his mother, who was a drug addict, until her death in Series 10 Episode 1, after which he moves into the schoolhouse.
Series 9[]
in Series 9 Episode 1, Darren is first seen barging past new teacher Sue Spark, earning himself immediate rebuke from headteacher Christine Mulgrew.
Darren is easily led and tends to go along with everything that Barry Barry tells him to do which results in him getting into trouble. Examples of this include in Series 9 Episode 4 when Barry persuades Darren to get Rhiannon Salt to take lewd photos of herself and send them to him, which he then sends to Barry, and Barry sends them to everyone around the school. Darren apologies to Rhiannon and asks if she'll go to the dance with him, but she refuses.
In Series 9 Episode 8, Darren and Barry eat magic mushrooms during the school's living history week, which results in the two of them being violently sick and landing themselves in trouble.
During this series, Darren makes fun of Kacey Barry for pursuing her newfound love for boxing, almost causing her to turn her back on the sport.
In Series 9 Episode 19, Christine goes to see Darren's mother Sammy Hughes after Darren is once again caught taking indecent images of Rhiannon, and it has been revealed that Darren has such images of multiple female students at the school. Christine is shocked by the conditions Darren lives in, later explaining to Vaughan Fitzgerald in Series 10 Episode 1 that Darren lives in extreme poverty and his living conditions are the worst she's ever seen. He lives with his heroin addict, prostitute mother on a run-down estate in a one-bedroom flat.
Series 10[]
In Series 10 Episode 1, Darren is seen at the schoolhouse sleeping on the floor of Lenny Brown's bedroom. He escapes out the window before Maggie Budgen came into the room, but sees him through the window after spotting that he had left his shoes behind, and she throws the shoes out the window at him. Darren goes back to his flat, where his mum, Sammy, and her new boyfriend, Alan Lennox, are in her bedroom. Sammy emerges and gives Darren some coins when he asks for money for lunch, and tells him to get off to school, but not before he notices bruises on her arm. Darren then encounters Lennox, who is less than polite. Darren then steals Lennox's wallet after finding it full of notes.
Later, at the school, a fight between Justin Fitzgerald and Floyd Westbrook causes the stolen notes in Darren's hands to fly everywhere, and there is a clamour of hands as many students grab at the notes, until Christine shows up and demands that everyone hand over the cash to her. After Darren admits he stole the cash from Lennox, and Christine takes him back to his flat to speak to his mother, but, in a shocking turn of events, they find her lying dead in her bed. Devastated, Darren runs out of the house and to the beachfront, where he throws Lennox's wallet into the water.
Jumping to conclusions, Darren blames Lennox for his mother's death, and later enlists Lenny to come with him to the car lot where Lennox works, where Darren confronts Lennox with a crowbar, but Christine arrives on the scene and calms Darren down. Back at school, a police officer explains to Darren that Sammy died of a drug overdose. Following this, Darren moves into the schoolhouse.
During Series 10, Darren grows closer to Rhiannon and the two of them start a relationship. Their relationship is tested in Series 10 Episode 3 when Rhiannon worries she might be pregnant and Darren does not react well. Rhiannon takes a pregnancy test which comes back negative, however.
In the latter episodes of the first half of Series 10, Darren and Rhiannon befriend an old woman named Grace after meeting her at the Community Café. They help her out around the house, such as by cooking for her, and they find out that she was once a keen dancer and many years go had a relationship with a man named Ted. They manage to get in touch with Ted, and reunite him with Grace.
In the second half of Series 10, Darren and Rhiannon have arguments over Rhiannon ogling Dale Jackson while hypocritically reprimanding Darren for ogling Bonnie Kincaid.
Darren ends up being unwittingly instrumental in the saving of Waterloo Road from the proposed merger with Havelock High, when in Series 10 Episode 20 he sees the model of what Havelock will look like after it is redeveloped and expanded to accommodate the influx of Waterloo Road students post-merger, and calls the phone number of the architecture company advertised on the model, and discovers that the architects are no longer working on the project and that the project 'shouldn't even go ahead'. When the truth comes out that there are no architects and no redevelopment work actually planned any time soon, the merger is stopped.
Darren is last seen among the students who give speeches to parents and council members talking about how Waterloo Road has helped them, and urging the cancellation of the merger.
Personality[]
At first glance, Darren is lackadaisical, reckless and overtly energetic. He is always one for a joke, be it on a pupil, teacher or even himself. Darren and Lenny become good friends. Darren and Barry ate magic mushrooms when they went into the forest. He is also known to many pupils as a pervert after he is caught with indecent images on his mobile phone. However by the end of the show, he has gone from an arrogant bully to a kind, although scruffy, young man.
Trivia[]
- Darren's actor, Mark Beswick, previously appeared as a mouthy extra called Liam in Series 4 Episode 13.
Quotes[]
- "I never knew she were a teacher!" (first line)
- Kacey: "Darren's the only boxer who can beat himself up."
- Darren: "Go bake a cake."
- Harley: "Why were you fighting the Kenyans? Did they invade us?"
- Laurence Brown: "It was part of the Empire."
- Darren: "Like in Star Wars!"
- "There was a young man from Leeds, who swallowed a packet of seeds. He grew some grass on his underpass and couldn't fart for weeks!"
- "Hey. I got nabbed by Mad McFall. She started going on about the black market, or something. She's well racist. Anyway, she confiscated the crisps."
- "Aw, Lenny, your sister's so cute when she's angry!"
- "Make waves, not war!"
- "Can you imagine Shaz in a mud hut with no nail varnish?"
- "Looking at my mum like she's dirt, you're no better yourself! Connor couldn't get away from you fast enough! Just get out will you? Didn't want you here in the first place!"
- "You think you're better than everyone else! She can't even put her shoes on properly! Did you get dressed in the dark or summat, Miss?"
- "Mum? Mum?! Mum, wake up! Mum! Mum! Mum! Mum!"
- "I'm here to see you. You see, I know what you did. You killed my mum!"
- "I know. Look like a right muppet dragging it round everywhere. Talking to it and giving it a name - 'Beyoncé'!"
- Darren: "So you're saying you might be?"
- Rhiannon: "Pregnant, yeah. And if I am, it's yours."
- "You must be mad! You're totally doing my head in. I wouldn't have a baby with you if you was the last bird on earth."
- Floyd: "Mate, she is well fit."
- Darren: "She might be, but she's a cow." (about Gabriella)
- "Yeah, you'd make a great model, you. You're already stuck-up and selfish."
- "Yeah. I mean, Sir, right, if anyone touched Rhiannon, I'd kick their head in as well. No, I would, right, and I wouldn't stop just cos they was begging me."
- "What is up wi' you? You've been a right weirdo since Bradley Leggins showed up."
- "Ooh! Lickle Lenny's got a big crush, has he? Mate, if you want any tips about how to, you know, treat the ladies, I'm here for you any time!"
- Rhiannon: "You really surprise me sometimes, d'you know that?"
- Darren: "Mmhm. Mystery wrapped in an enigma, that's me."
- Vaughan: "Darren, Jardine Close, numbers 1 to...85?"
- Darren: "All signed, Sir! They feel very strongly about it, Sir, it's part of their community!"
- Vaughan: "Jardine Close is a cul-de-sac. Ten houses tops."
- Darren: "Is it?"
- Lorna: "Yeah, and I don't know the area, but I doubt very much Mr S Spielberg lives there."
- "The truth is, I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for this place, I didn't have the best start. And then, when my mum died, I thought that was it. But Waterloo Road was here to pick up the pieces and turn my life around. And now, everything's great." (final line)