Rae Wilson is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Alice Barlow. She appeared in the series from 5 October 2009 until 13 September 2011. Actress Helen Russell-Clark – who went on to play Jem Costello – originally auditioned for the role, but the part was awarded to Barlow. Producer Lucy Allan said Barlow was her favourite addition to the cast during 2009. She made her final appearance on 13 September 2011.

Initially portrayed as an imaginary character in a schizophrenia storyline, Rae was later revealed to be real when she arrived to study in Hollyoaks. She was central to a controversial suicide storyline, and was part of a love triangle with Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) and Brendan Brady (Emmett J. Scanlan), which left her pregnant by Ste. She miscarried during an argument with Brendan and subsequently feuded with him; Barlow praised her character for being one of the few who dared to oppose the Hollyoaks villain. Rae was originally characterised as a chav with a feisty persona, but underwent a transformation when she attempted to embrace domestic life with Ste. During series four of the post-watershed spin-off Hollyoaks Later, Rae was murdered by a serial killer, Silas Blissett (Jeff Rawle). The late broadcast slot allowed an explicit depiction of her death. Barlow hoped that Rae would be remembered for her strong-willed nature, and that her exit would be considered one of the best in the programme's history.

In 2011, Barlow won an All About Soap award for Rae's love-triangle storyline. AfterElton criticised the lack of character development Rae received, and along with the Sunday Mercury, bemoaned the dearth of realism exhibited in Rae staying with Ste despite knowing that he was homosexual. Readers of the soap opera magazine Inside Soap indicated that they did not want Silas to murder Rae.

At a July 2009 Hollyoaks press day, series producer Lucy Allan announced that there would be a "big stunt" involving schizophrenic character Barry "Newt" Newton (Nico Mirallegro) in October of that year. It was later revealed that a new character, Rae, would join the serial as part of a "shock suicide plot" involving Newt, in which the two characters would jump off a bridge. Alice Barlow's casting as Rae was announced in October 2009. Barlow stated that she was "absolutely on top of the world" to receive the part, particularly as one of her childhood dreams was to appear in a soap opera. Helen Russell-Clark – who went on to play Jem Costello in the serial – also auditioned for Rae, and reached the final stages of casting. Allan said Rae was one of her favourite additions to the cast in 2009 and expressed her pride in Barlow's performance, saying, "to introduce a character as somebody and then to completely change the character six weeks later, while still delivering the performances that Alice does, is a testament to a young actress." In early 2011, Barlow decided to leave Hollyoaks to pursue other projects. Her departure was kept secret until her exit scenes were aired. Barlow described her time with the programme as "the perfect end" to her teenage years and said she could not "have asked for anything better."

In her corporeal state, Rae has gone through a series of transformations. Initially a rather angry chav, she relaunched herself as a DJ. Entanglement in a Stendan love triangle then saw her embrace life as a housewife and carer of small children, but when that didn't work out she opted to re-relaunch her DJ career.

— E4 on Rae

During her first appearances as a figment of Newt's imagination, Rae was depicted as a goth with an emo persona. When she was reintroduced as a real person, Rae's character was more reminiscent to that of a chav. The character later underwent a transitional period; she retained her strong personality, but displayed a weaker side resulting from the setbacks she encountered. Barlow found the role challenging, as her own personality is dissimilar from her character's. She described Rae as someone who always makes her opinion known, and hoped she would be remembered for her strong-willed persona.

Rae was introduced as Newt's imaginary friend. They made a suicide pact, and jumped off a bridge together into deep water. The stunt was filmed at Stanley Dock in Liverpool, where a 45-foot (14 m) tower was erected for them to jump from. Although stunt doubles were available, both Barlow and Mirallegro decided to perform their own stunts, and spent around four minutes filming underwater. The storyline received prominent coverage in the media days before the scenes were due to be broadcast because two young girls in Scotland had died in a similar suicide pact, having jumped from the Erskine Bridge into the River Clyde. Channel 4 decided to broadcast the Hollyoaks scenes as planned, and released a statement which explained: