Why Hollyoaks Is Skipping A Year And Cutting Its Episodes And Cast

Source: Found here

In one of British TV's more unusual soap plot twists, the action in Channel 4's Hollyoaks is jumping forward by a whole year - to let producers reduce the number of episodes and cast members, in the latest cutback to TV drama.

However, when Hannah Cheers took over Hollyoaks earlier this year - as it was announced that the show would have its headcount, budget and episodes slashed - she didn't want her storyline to be too ⁘negative and grim⁘.

⁘It actually gave us so much more scope for the 'what if' questions, and a soap audience love the what, where, how the hell have you got there?⁘ Cheers says.

⁘Whereas we've got a mechanism that has led to new friendships, new romances, old relationships being rekindled, pregnancies, secrets, mysteries - all from moving a year in time.⁘

It's also the first week for 25 years that the show has had three episodes, down from the previous five.

Then on Monday, the action will leap 12 months ahead, and viewers will start to piece together what's happened to the characters who are still standing, and those who aren't.

As well as culling the cast by a third, a similar proportion of jobs - about 130 - have been lost behind the scenes on the show's Liverpool set.