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• Comment: Insufficent subject-specific coverage - keep as redirect to List of Hollyoaks characters. Epsilon.Prota ^talk 15:47, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

Sam Chen-Williams is a fictional character from British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Matthew McGivern. He first appeared on 15 December 2021 and was introduced by executive producer Lucy Allan as part of a new family conisting of Sam, his father Dave (Dominic Power), stepmother Honour (Vera Chok), her daughter Serena (Emma Lau), his half-sister Lizzie (Lily Best), half-brother Maya (Frank Kauer), uncle Ethan (Matthew James-Bailey), and his girlfriend Maya (Ky Discala). Sam initially appeared as a potential love interest for Celeste Faroe (Andrea Ali).

Sam's storylines include arriving in the village and settling into a new life, a relationship with Zoe Anderson (Garcia Brown) and subsequently being accused of harassment after his behaviour towards her becomes obsessive and he keeps trying to reconcile after being told numerous times they were over, and leaving the village when his family don't believe his innocence when he is subsequently set up by Rayne Royce (Jemma Donovan) and Hunter McQueen (Theo Graham) respectively. He briefly returns later that month to help his father and in this time, his family realise the truth about him being set up. He leaves permanently on 29 September 2023 to be a fitness trainer in Los Angeles. Sam and Zoe's relationship was criticised for having a lack of screentime and Hollyoaks has been criticised for "failing" Sam's family as a whole.

On 14 December 2021, a day before he debuted, McGivern's casting was announced by an Instagram post.^[1] The post included a caption which said: "CAST ANNOUNCEMENT TIME! Please give a warm welcome to @_matthewmcgivern who'll be joining the village to play police officer, Sam! Just what will he be getting up to in the village? Keep an eye out for Sam's first appearance in tonight's episode... One particular 'Oaks resident will soon have their eyes on him too..."^[1] On 2 December 2021, it was revealed he would be introduced as a love interest for Celeste Faroe (Andrea Ali), whom he buys a bottle of champagne for.^[2] The Hollyoaks 2021 winter trailer, which dropped on 22 November 2021, had revealed that five new characters, including Sam, would be joining the soap.^[3] Rianne Houghton from Digital Spy described the new characters to be "troubling new residents".^[3] Sam was also introduced as the new recruit at the Dee Valley PD.^[4]

Sam arrived in Hollyoaks on 15 December 2021.^[2] He first appears when he buys Celeste Faroe (Andrea Ali) a bottle of champagne.^[2] Shortly after, he is revealed to be a member of the Chen-Williams family as his arrival follows his step-sister, Serena Chen-Williams (Emma Lau), uncle Ethan Williams (Matthew James-Bailey), father Dave Chen-Williams (Dominic Power) and stepmother Honour Chen-Williams (Vera Chok).^[4] Shortly after arriving, Sam becomes the newest member of the Dee Valley Police force.^[4] After his encounter with Celeste, Justin Harp from Digital Spy described Sam to have an "easy charm".^[4] She also said: "Sam has already caught the eye of Celeste Faroe – but will Celeste have competition for Sam's affections?"^[4] Sam and his family move into the old home of Tony (Nick Pickard) and Diane Hutchinson (Alex Fletcher), which causes the McQueen family to be homeless.^[4]

In 2022, Sam embarked on a relationship with Zoe Anderson (Garcia Brown).^[5] Together, they tried to prove that Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas) was running an illegal business, which caused an ongoing feud.^[5] Speaking about Sam and Zoe's relationship, Brown toldInside Soap: "Sam very much catches Zoe off-guard. She never thought it would come to anything, but the attraction keeps growing. I think Sam's a mystery, and she likes that. But the pair of them do play hard to get – it's a case of cat and mouse! And there's another problem for Zoe in that she's Sam's boss."^[6] Zoe subsequently falls pregnant with Sam's baby, but decides to have a termination after ending their relationship.^[7] Sam becomes obsessed with reconciling with Zoe, despite being told numerous times that it was over.^[7] In an interview with Inside Soap, Brown revealed that her and Sam didn't have a chance of reconciliation.^[8] She said: "I don’t think there is anything left. For Zoe, they are completely done. Let’s leave this alone, it’s gone far enough and they weren’t even supposed to be together in the first place because they worked together."^[8] Sam's uncle, Ethan Williams (Matthew James-Bailey) tried to encourage Zoe to tell Sam about her pregnancy, but she insists that he keeps it a secret.^[7] Zoe's mother, Sharon Bailey (Jamelia) discovers Zoe's intentions to have an abortion after accidentally seeing the termination appointment page on her phone.^[7] Zoe asked Sharon to support her, however was later revealed to be the one who told Sam about her intentions of having the termination.^[7] Sam tries to persuade her not to go through with the abortion, but Zoe had no interest in starting a family.^[7]

Sam's behaviour towards Zoe begins to become concerning when after her termination, he gives her a book about parenting.^[9] Zoe confides in Sam's half-sister Maxine Minniver (Nikki Sanderson) and tells her that she would have to take legal action if his behaviour didn't stop.^[9] Unaware of the situation, Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard) and Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson) try to convince Sam to reconcile with Zoe, thinking they were good together.^[9] Zoe then returned home to find Sam had let himself in and refused to leave until Zoe gave him another chance.^[9] Zoe gives him an ultimatum of he leaves or she takes legal action.^[9] Sam is still set on reconciliation, but Zoe tells him the reality is she doesn't love him and is going through with the termination.^[9] Sam is subsequently picked up by the police for harassment.^[9] After being arrested, Sam's father Dave Chen-Williams (Dominic Power) berates Zoe for ruining Sam's career and giving him mixed signals at work.^[10] Zoe reveals that she didn't report Sam, however it was revealed that Maxine did, which Dave turned on her for.^[10] After these events, sam apologised for his behaviours and accompanied Zoe to her termination.^[11]

After beginning to make amends with Zoe, she receives a series of mysterious and threatening text messages, which she initially believed to be Sam reverting back to his old behaviour.^[11] However, it was later revealed to be Rayne Royce (Jemma Donovan) sending them on Sam's phone after she stole it.^[11] The situation got worse when a picture shrine of Zoe was found in Sam's car, which Hunter McQueen (Theo Graham) planted so Sam stood no chance of reconciliation and got out of the picture.^[11] Jamie Body from Digital Spy explained: "Rayne started to topple Sam's world, but it was Hunter McQueen who dealt the final blow by staging the former officer's car to look like a creepy tribute to Zoe in a bid to remove him from the equation and Hollyoaks so he could have Zoe to himself."^[11] Despite his best efforts to plea his innocence to his family, he is unsuccessful and departs the village on 8 September 2023.^[11] After Sam's initial departure, Sam's family realised that he was innocent regarding the threatening texts and the photos.^[12] After being left unclear if Sam's initial departure was permanent, it was announced on 27 September 2023 that Sam would be returning, but unclear how long for.^[12] Sam returned to try and convince his father, Dave Chen-Williams (Dominic Power) to come clean to his family about being evicted.^[12] Sam then departed again on 29 September 2023 after being given a "lucrative offer" of a job as a fitness trainer in Los Angeles.^[12]

In April 2023, Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy suggested that Hollyoaks failed the Chen-Williams family.^[13] He said: "Hollyoaks has talented performers playing the Chen-Williams family members, and the problems with the storytelling aren't the fault of the actors, so there's still plenty of opportunities for the clan's future."^[13] Specifically talking about Ethan, Kilkelly explained: "Sam's relationship with Zoe Anderson (Garcia Brown) is also oddly portrayed, with the pair hardly ever sharing romantic scenes (or any screen time at all, for that matter) when they're supposed to be a couple."^[13]