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. How do you get rid of 20 people in the same small, tight-knit, already troubled village? Set a serial killer on the loose? Summon a major disaster? No soap boss would willingly scale back their show, but if they were forced to undertake a major cast cull, most wouldn't pass up the chance to unleash a wave of death and destruction. 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".
Instead, she came up with a more radical idea - to skip forward in time by a whole year. "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. "And actually, all of a sudden, this was way more valuable than a plane crashing on the village, because that only ends one way - death, in a coffin, sadness.
"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." There's still some death and destruction - this week is Hollyoaks' annual "stunt week". It's also the first week for 25 years that .