Is Rafe dead in Hollyoaks? What happened and did Dilly kill him ...

Hollyoaks' Rafe Harcourt appears to be leaving the Channel 4 soap, with his character shown dead in the latest episode.

In scenes that aired on Channel 4's streaming service on Monday night before the episode aired on E4 on Tuesday, a major twist saw Dilly Harcourt finding her secret husband dead. Moments earlier, she had attacked him and hit him over the head.

After knocking him out with a bell, she tied him to a radiator in the cellar. Of course only the pair know that they are not really brother and sister and are in fact husband and wife, despite Rafe planning on marrying Sienna Blake in the big episode.

Rafe realised he did not want to betray Sienna and was no longer in love with Dilly, so the plan they had been executing for months had to come to an end. We still don't know the full truth about why the pair were out to get Sienna, but it appears to be linked to Sienna's late father Patrick Blake.

Dilly headed to the venue of the wedding and acted like she had no idea why Sienna had been jilted, or where Rafe was. Of course she knew full well, with Rafe having been desperate to get hold of his bride.

But when Dilly returned to the cellar later in the episode to have it out with him, she was left dumbstruck to find him dead. Rafe was still tied to the radiator, but was slumped and lifeless with Dilly discovering he had died while she was away.

It has not yet been revealed what happened in the time of Dilly's absence and how exactly he died. So did Dilly kill Rafe with that blow to the head, or was it his terminal illness that caused his passing?

Viewers knew, as did Sienna, that Rafe was recently told he did not have long to live, with it recommended he begin palliative care. Rafe pushed ahead with the wedding though, only for him to die before reaching Sienna. Fans will have to stay tuned to find out what happens next!

Hollyoaks is available to stream on Channel 4's streaming service now, while it also airs Mondays to Fridays on E4 at 7PM.* Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .