Yahoo News 11 ways to fix Hollyoaks in the show's next era
'Hollyoaks in crisis!' 'Chaos on set!' 'Quick, someone activate Zombie Silas to improve the ratings!' Okay, we made that last one up ourselves.
Channel 4's flagship soap has sparked some dramatic headlines recently following the sudden departure of three leading producers who worked on the soap.
Executive producer Lucy Allan announced that she was standing down last week, which was quickly followed by the news that series producer Philip Dodds and script executive Josie Day had also decided to leave.
The show's production company Lime Pictures has insisted that the trio left of their own accord – and it's worth noting that Lucy's two-and-a-half-year stint in charge was a standard run for a soap boss.
Even so, there's no denying that the behind-the-scenes changes mark a major turning point for the show's leadership – and arguably come at a time when Hollyoaks hasn't been firing on all cylinders when it comes to ratings, fan satisfaction and awards.
Fortunately, as we've seen with a resurgent EastEnders over the past year, soaps can bounce back quickly. Digital Spy is on hand with some suggestions for how to fix mistakes, build on successes from the current era and bring Hollyoaks back to its very best.
1. Pick up the pace
There was a time when you'd skip a week of Hollyoaks and accidentally miss three kidnaps, four blackmails and five deaths. The show had a frenetic pace a few years ago, which eventually became unsustainable as fans complained about characterisation being sacrificed in favour of shock moments.
While nobody wants to go back to having three serial killers in the show at the same time, Hollyoaks has now gone too far in the other direction. There aren't enough big storylines running at any one time, plots play out too slowly, characters have samey conversations and the show has lost the sense of each episode pushing a story forward.
The smaller shows can't always afford to have quiet patches, so Hollyoaks needs to find its momentum again and deliver exciting soap stories each week.
2. Cut back on block storytelling
As we've mentioned on Digital Spy before, Hollyoaks relies on 'block storytelling' much more than the other soaps. A major story or character group will appear on screen for a week, then disappear for three, before returning to pick up where they left off as if no time had passed.
This is largely due to the way the show is filmed on single camera, which improves on-screen production values but means that shooting one scene takes longer than on the other soaps. The show had previously found workarounds to make these production restrictions less obvious than they are now.
The current stop-start approach makes storylines difficult to follow, with fans in danger of forgetting what's happening during the frequent gaps. It also adds to the sense of a slower pace, with 15 or 20 episodes' worth of storyline material being staggered out for several months rather than weeks.
3. Know when to end a storyline
One of Hollyoaks' biggest successes of the past year was the radicalised misogyny storyline focused on Eric Foster. The saga won the Best Storyline prize at the British Soap Awards in June and followed in the long tradition of Hollyoaks bravely covering big issues first. A job well done all round.
The plot reached its exciting peak with a siege at The Dog in January, but then rumbled on for many more months as the show seemed overly keen to keep milking it. Eric made reappearances for less interesting prison scenes, before finally bowing out in May.
We usually give full marks for a strong soap aftermath, but towards the end, there was a sense of fatigue as the screen time could have been used to start an interesting new story instead.
4. Bring back the element of surprise
Hollyoaks pioneered the art of the soap surprise in the 2010s, with Lynsey Nolan's shock murder setting the blueprint for further cast exits, big-name returns and bombshell storyline twists being kept tightly under wraps until the episodes aired.
Other soaps like EastEnders and Emmerdale began to follow suit by clamping down on storyline leaks and being more selective with spoilers, but 'OMG moments' have become far less frequent on Hollyoaks recently with the show taking a more pedestrian pace and not delivering the same surprises.
5. Don't bring in new characters without a long-term plan
Hollyoaks is fond of announcing new additions to the cast, but the arrivals don't always work out as planned. The Chen-Williams family were a breath of fresh air when they arrived in late 2021, but most of them were sorely underused and quickly began to fall by the wayside with unexpected cast departures.
Other relative newbies like Nadira and Beau haven't been given much to do once the drama of their initial storylines fizzled out.
The breakout new star of the current era has been Ethan, played brilliantly by Matthew James-Bailey, who's been served much better with entertaining storylines and a great on-screen partnership with Sienna.
There's certainly an argument for bringing in some new families or characters to set off the next era with a bang, like with the 2010 revamp that introduced the Costellos, the O'Connors, Brendan, Mitzeee and Silas. Moving forward, though, all new arrivals need a chance for strong storylines, otherwise there's no point in introducing them.
6. Bring back familiar faces
Hollyoaks has avoided bringing back many familiar faces in the past few years. Aside from returns from the likes of Zara (who's now gone) and Hunter, the show hasn't delved much deeper into the Hollyoaks history books, which would have put the show in a stronger position to replace popular characters when they've left.
While many of the all-time fan favourite cast members have moved onto other things, we can still dream. Imagine the fan reaction if the likes of Cheryl Brady, Mitzeee Minniver, Brendan Brady or Jacqui McQueen made a reappearance?
7. Be more daring
Hollyoaks used to air some of the darkest stories in Soapland and villains like Silas posed a genuine sense of threat in their early appearances.
After the show was rapped by Ofcom over Walker's violent train death in 2013, the approach to storylines became increasingly sanitised, with the show either reluctant or unable to provide the same sense of on-screen jeopardy. If stricter policies are in place, perhaps it's time for another Hollyoaks Later outing to give fans their fix of darker material.
8. Stop confusing us
A Channel 4 youth drama shouldn't be too hard to follow, but some storylines in the past year have left us scratching our heads. Last summer, James was revealed to have a mysterious superhero-style identity as 'The King', while an intrigued Romeo wanted to document his antics as 'The Scribe'. The surreal plot was never mentioned again.
The Norma/Warren gangster dramas also became bogged down in complications, leaving us confused over who was plotting against who. Plus, we could do with some clarification on whether Norma has stopped killing people for fun yet.
9. Fix the McQueens
We're always here for McQueen mayhem and their endless supply of daytime parties, but it hasn't been a golden period for the iconic soap family. Since being turfed out of The Dog, the clan have been languishing in Soapland's strangest house, which was mysteriously transformed from Tony's old restaurant in the middle of the village.
The McQueens are great when they're together, but there's a danger of only showing them en masse and neglecting to explore them as individual characters. This hasn't been helped by removing great characters like Sally and John Paul from the school setting where they used to thrive.
Dividing the family up into separate storylines could help to address this, like when Jacqui moved out of the family home in 2010 and was placed into a completely different set of storylines with Rhys, Ste, Brendan and Cheryl at the club.
10. Continue to focus on characterisation and community
There are also lessons to be learned from what's gone well in the current era. One of the main strengths of current Hollyoaks has been maintaining strong characterisation, allowing fans to invest in the villagers again.
Although it'd be a smart move to see a faster pace and more exciting moments in future Hollyoaks storylines, this shouldn't be at the expense of the progress that has been made with characterisation.
We've enjoyed seeing the community come together for big events like the women's march earlier in the year, while having Scott become a foster father has provided some of the most heartwarming scenes we've seen in a while.
This should all hopefully mean that, when high drama next hits the village, there's emotional resonance to the storylines and fans genuinely care about whatever happens to their favourite characters.
11. Continue to invest in the teens
Another Hollyoaks high point in recent months has been the focus on the current teen group, which is a surprise as stories focusing on the younger crowd can sometimes be divisive among fans.
Legacy character Charlie has transitioned well into more grown-up storylines, while new arrivals like Dillon, Vicky and Shing Lin have provided an exciting new burst of energy.
Dillon and Lucas' recent playful fun around the village has also been enjoyable to watch, providing an entertaining new double act for the future.
Check out more of our Hollyoaks coverage:
- 17 huge Hollyoaks spoilers for next week
- Hollyoaks star David Ames explains Carter's role in big John Paul story
- Hollyoaks star Jorgie Porter discusses Theresa McQueen return
- Hollyoaks reveals Rayne Royce's next plan in 15 spoiler pictures
Hollyoaks streams first online via Channel 4, with new episodes dropping each weekday morning. The show airs Mondays to Fridays at 6.30pm on Channel 4, and at 7pm on E4.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage.
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