Karen Hollins

On her BBC profile, it states that while Karen is "great with the patients" of the surgery, she is a "complete hypochondriac" who "won't hesitate to pester the doctors for a diagnosis". It adds that while she is dedicated to her role in the surgery, she prioritises her family, so if there were to be a family emergency, Karen will be "straight out the door". On Karen becoming a healthcare assistant, the profile explains that although she appears confident while her job responsibilities increase, she does not have "the utmost faith in her abilities", and that if she feels necessary, she will seek advice from a more experienced colleague.[1]

Karen is intrduced as the head receptionist at The Mill Health Centre and the Campus Surgery at Letherbridge University. Karen tries to call her colleague, Cherry Clay (Sophie Abelson) to tell her information about her boyfriend, Scott Nielson (Sam Heughan). However, he had died, with Cherry at his apartment. The situation escalates into a fight in reception, and Karen is suspended by Dr. Heston Carter (Owen Brenman) but returns the following week. The next day, her son Jack (Nicholas Woodman) informs her that he has seen Zara 'shooting up'. Karen visits Zara's house, where she discovers that Zara is injecting herself with testosterone to combat her early onset menopause. Karen is approached by Gerry Cutler (Steffan Rhodri), the father of Lewis (Alexander Vlahos), Jack's friend from university. He asks if Lewis can stay at their house over the Easter holidays, to which she accepts. Unknown to the Hollins family, Lewis has mental health issues. As the week continues, his problems become clear, but Lewis covers his tracks very easily. After Karen sees a knife mark in her kitchen table, she knows it was done by Lewis. Imogen then realises that her art project has been tampered with, by Lewis. Jack is called to a fake interview at the university, which is later revealed to be Lewis holding people hostage with a gun. Rob runs inside despite being warned not to, and helps Karen to defeat Lewis.

When Karen becomes pregnant, she does not want to have the baby, unlike husband Rob (Chris Walker). She informs him that she wants to have an abortion, which he disagrees with. She has the termination, and as a result, their relationship is initially strained. After Karen stays with her father for a while, she returns and tells Rob she wants to reconcile their marriage. After Rob saves her from a burning building, they have a romantic meal, which is constantly disrupted, however, Rob and Karen sleep in the same bed later that night. Karen's friend Angie Briggs (Den Woods) attempts to get her to see other men, but Karen refuses and stays with Rob. After Rob accidentally hits Karen with his car, she develops amnesia. She forgets who Rob and her children are, and believes she is 18. After she has recovered her memories and their children move out to attend higher education, Rob and Karen decide to become foster parents. Due to feeling incapable to be a foster parent, Rob meets with social worker Jane Fairweather (Patricia Potter) and lies to her by saying that Karen is unable to foster due to her history of amnesia. Jane informs Karen of this, who is angry with Rob due to feeling responsible for his state. When the pair foster Jayden Hunt (Ciaran Stow), a 14-year-old with epilepsy, they look into getting him medical aid for his seizures. They discover that Jayden has been using Karen's money to buy marijuana, since it eases his condition. Rob warns him not to do it again due to his police career being put at stake, but Karen disagrees. She meets with Iris Nicholson (Jenny Stokes), a local drug dealer, to buy Jayden marijuana. She is stopped by Rob's colleague, Pat Dyson (Dawn Butler), who states that she will not tell Rob. However, Karen later confesses what she has done to Rob, who is angry with her decision to go behind his back.

Walker and Pearson spoke to Digital Spy about their onscreen chemistry. Talking about their first scenes together, Walker said: "First day on set, in fact first scene it was, 'Hi I'm Chris', 'Hi I'm Jan', right get into bed. So that broke the ice." When asked why they work so well together on the soap, he explained: "I think that we're not precious with our own stuff and we always want to give and help each other and that's nice, and we do row very well."[2] After Karen's abortion, her BBC profile explains that Rob's "uncompromising stance" on the decision to terminate the baby pushed Karen away from him emotionally.[1] In 2021, Walker spoke again about their relationship to Inside Soap after the pair had become experienced foster parents. While dealing with a difficult case involving a child with anger management issues, Karen hides details from Rob about the incidents. Walker stated that the situation would "cause friction" in their relationship, and compared the "different skills and different ways" that the pair deal with problems. However, Walker explained that despite the situation, they are still "so strong as a couple" and that with Rob and Karen, "you always get the feeling that they'll get through it somehow", meaning they can deal with the issues that come with fostering difficult children.[3]

After Karen becomes involved in a memory loss storyline, Pearson revealed that Walker had devised the storyline. Speaking to Digital Spy at the launch of Pentahotel Birmingham, Pearson explained: "The story has been hugely long and it's still going on. I've been filming it for a year now. It was very exciting because it was Chris's idea. I think his original idea was that Karen would be run over by some ex of Rob's. The producers didn't run with that, but they did run with the accident and the memory loss. I was utterly delighted that Chris was responsible for running me over! We now have a very playful banter over who's to blame for the situation!" Pearson also added: "We always knew that Karen and Rob were going to get back together in the end, but the break-up made a nice change from what we normally do. Because it was Chris's storyline and his idea, I really wanted to give it my best shot. What Chris came up with was very detailed - it was extraordinary. If the acting career doesn't work out for him, I think he's got a really good shot as a storyliner".[4]

Alongside Walker, Pearson won the award for Best On-Screen Partnership.[5] In 2011, she was nominated for Best Storyline and Best Single Episode for her portrayal of Karen going through her pregnancy and later abortion storyline.[6] Pearson was also nominated for Best Comedy Performance at the 2012 British Soap Awards.[7] In 2014, Pearson received a nomination for Best Female Acting Performance at the RTS Midlands Awards.[8] As well as these nominations, Pearson has been longlisted for Best Actress at the British Soap Awards four times; 2013,[9] 2014,[10] 2016[11] and 2018.[12] Following a change to Pearson's hair, Jane Corscadden of The Focus wrote that "she looks fantastic", with viewers echoing the comment.[13]

• Karen Hollins at BBC Online