as emma swithwick has left what would you do if you were appointed producer of hollyoaks?
ps. not to many deaths

I would definitely downsize the cast - would get rid of some pointless characters. Eg: Maddie, Jono, Neil, Ally, Liberty, Dennis, Jen, Liam, etc...

I would definitely give the other characters more storylines. Eg: Tony, Jacqui, Myra, Jack, Frankie.

I'm by no means an expert as I've only been watching regularly for a few weeks, but I'd look at the pacing of storylines as a priority. I believe that the massive cast is a symptom of this, I would look to remove around 10 poor characters, with a view to introducing a new family of 3 or 4 people a few months down the line.

For the pacing I would remove the blocking of storyline by week, I don't like how there seems to be a 'Brendan week', 'Teens week', etc. as storylines get built up and then dropped for weeks on end. Having a smaller cast should make it more manageable to achieve a more fluid pace of storylines.

I would have two 'later' series each year, or maybe one standard 'Later' series in September, and another 'late-night' series in the Spring, but with new young characters and cameos from a couple of regular cast, a la Eastenders' E20 spinoff. Could be a chance to replace the boring and poorly written teens currently with any popular characters from the spinoff. And also showcase young writing talent

I'd make Bronagh Waugh a key character, I think she has bags of potential. I'd do everything I could to hold onto Emmett J. Scanlan for just a little bit longer, even if it means him being imprisoned or going missing for 6 months, and returning for a final 2 month stint down the line.

The cast is too large. Despite it being a teen soap, more focus should be made on the older characters. Some of the teens are really good, Esther, Pheobe, Lacey and the deaf boy who no one ever mentons.

There are other teens who are good but regrettably they all seem to be in the 'team Maddie' club and have been since their entrance which is not good. We have seen that George is good away from Maddie and if the likes of Tilly were given a believable SL, that would be great as we know she can do it (WR)

Stop writing thes stupid love traingles betwen established couples.

Stop giving characters personalities a U turn for the sake of an OMG moment and give back som of those who haven't been spoilt beyond redemption, their old persona back.

I suspect Emmett leaving is a foregone conclusion. He is too good for HO. They were lucky to have him for as long as they did and I reluctantly have to say that if he stayed longer, ther is a risk of it become the BB show.

As for Bronagh. She is too fickle a character to be likeable any more. Fair weather friends and family are not what soaps are about. Loyalty is the key and the character of Cheryl has none.

I would axe Jen, Liam & Ally (Don't like any of them boring and pointless), Maddie, Neil & Ruby (A smaller teen group of Sinead, Bart, Tilly, Callum, Esther, Jono, Pheobe, George, Lacey & Dylan would work better). I would make Dirk, Dennis and Liberty recurring characters that could just appear occasionally. Finally I would like to see Rob and Finn O Connor return and move back in with Diane and Sinead and make a family unit again, and see Martha kick Ally out and move back into her house and I think they should introduce her ex husband and the father of Callum, Ash & Lacey.

So there would be 41 main characters instead of 48 (not counting babies and young kids) and a few recurring characters; Mercedes (I doubt we will see much of her for while), Declan, Dirk, Dennis and Liberty.

I think the most important thing though is too manage the screen time and give the characters the viewers like more storylines and a bit less of the teens and students.

I would definitely look at getting rid of some of the more pointless characters e.g. Barney, Liberty, Will, Annalise and Rob to name but a few. I would give other characters such as Liam a decent storyline, and if the viewers fail to take to him, axe him too (after all, we've barely seen him so far).

While I can't stand Maddie, I do get what they are doing with the character, so I would probably keep her around, at least until she gets her comeuppance. I would get rid of some of the other students though, Bart, Jono and Neil annoy me, and Tilly needs to taken away from Jen as that storyline has destroyed her likeability.

I would introduce a new family, as I feel the show really needs a core family with mum, dad and kids, as there is nobody who fits that mould at the moment, and perhaps introduce some older twentysomethings to give the likes of Cheryl, Darren, Rhys and Jacqui people to integrate with.

Wrong thread

Barney is great. Liam is pants. But I agree about the Tilley Jen SL. Keep Tilly and axe Jen.

Introducing a new family is okay but they keep bringing them in and then getting rid. The Kane family are fine, but the usurper Ally, is a waste of space

I would finish the teen bullying storyline with Esther trying to take her life, Frankie and Jack find out what was going on and kick Ruby out of the house, she has one final scene with Esther where she says sorry and then leaves to live with Duncan.

Maddie still acts smug, but it is clear to the viewers that she is only putting up a show and inside she is scared for herself, what will happen to her with all her friends being unable to ignore what she is doing, while we may see a little guilt about what she has done, Maddie is more concerned about herself, she eventually leaves after realising that she will never get her friends back. I would also want a scene between her and George with George reminding her of what he went through and how he felt and how he should have done something to stop Maddie from bullying others, but was scared to face her, but now he isn't and that Maddie was a fake and their was no real friendship between them.

I'm not sure what could happen to Sinead, but something should, she is a great actress, but a awful character, so she feels guilty and changes the way she treats everyone.

Bart continues to get high and Maddie pushes him away, Myra has had enough and kicks him out. Bart lives on the streets for a short while (or in the shed that everyone knows about) but then after getting high he either falls from somewhere or gets hit by a car and dies.

Jono's parents get a job somewhere else and he leaves.

Jen gets offered a new job and takes it to get away from Tilly, her brother goes with her.

Jacqui finds out about the affair and ends it with Rhys, as much as I love those two together, they have now ruined Rhys who only cared about his affair rather than what was going on with the McQueens, Darren and Nancy and Riley's death and I wouldn't want to see Jacqui just accept it and carry on.

But Tony forgives Cindy and they talk about their relationship, realising that they are good together when they have fun, so they decide to work on their relationship.

Doug comes back and moves straight in with Texas, he tells Ste that they could never work, he will become a silent partner in the business and has very few scenes with Ste. Old Doug comes back and this year's Doug vanishes. He realises that he never really got over his suicide attempt and the focus goes back to that and what he went through.

Darren finally realises that it wasn't anything that Nancy did or didn't do that caused the baby to be born early, he says sorry and they focus on their baby and their worries.

Mitzeee comes back and even though she has changed, she still has some of the old Mitzeee in her, she supports Nancy and even Brendan, but then she finds out that Riley was shot because Walker was targeting Brendan and they struggled for the gun.

Leanne leaves. I don't know what they can do with her, her only change for a wedding even though she was engaged last year was awful.

Dennis gives up on Leanne and comes back from his holiday with a girlfriend.

Barney, Annalise and Rob find somewhere to live, Dr Browning's flat, Annalise's OCD finally gets some focus, Barney supports Cheryl and the three of them try and find ways to make money.

Ally leaves, I don't care how.

They also need to stop rewriting the characters to fit their awful storylines, so many characters are being changed and ruined. Storylines need to have a better pace, it was great seeing both the Mercedes and Brendan storylines at the same time, it was amazing to go from one brilliant scene to the next with a break, but they both ended at the same time and left us with the teens! We had a very very bad 6 months earlier in the year, that can't happen again. I really don't know how they can go from all that happened last year to the nothing that happened earlier this year, plus teens in every episode for 3 months straight, it was awful. Quick rewrites do happen, but it shouldn't happen as much as this, it has been really obvious that they are quickly filming scenes to air weeks or days later and it messes everything up. Ricky didn't get his exit!! Aftermaths!! You have a storyline and it comes to it's end and then you move on to the aftermath, reactions from everyone involved and if it is something that would be gossiped about then have other people gossip about it, don't move on to other characters and act like nothing has happened.

And I would bring back Carl, Seth, Jason and Bobby and also Heidi's sister Wendy. Carl would buy the gym and run that so the Osbornes could stay in the Dog.

Get rid of Maddie, Sinead, Bart and Neil.
Give Ste his balls back and have no interaction between him and Brendan.
Turn the Gym into something else.
Bring back Lauren Valentine, Jem Costello, Anita Roy, Charlotte Lau, Dave Colburn and Zoe Carpenter

also add storyline ideas

While obviously it's not a "do this and it's sorted" job - trial and error is the most effective way of seeing what works and what doesn't.

Characters who have lost or are losing direction don't always have to be axed. Sometimes they can be saved and I think Emma did this alot during her tenure - making certain characters likeable rather than simply axing them (George, for instance in my case). One of the many things I really admired about her passion for everything Hollyoaks.

Obviously not everything listed below is a 'major' plotline. Sometimes I think you have to put characters in situations that test their characters and make them evolve with the story. People change as time goes on and this should be no different for characters in soapland. Just a few ideas I've had over the last few months though...

Story Ideas
Barney - Quite liked Nate in Hollyoaks Later as a love interest for Cheryl. Could be interesting if he was Barney's brother, perhaps helping him realise he's not as unlike his 2 brothers as his parents would believe. Would also be a bit of a huge coincidence too, but I know Barney and Cheryl had a little thing in the past.

Rob works as a jack-the-lad and I would want to keep this trait. Perhaps he could become involved in a bank robbery or an event which makes him paranoid and scared, whilst challenging the 'alpha male' role he feels he has in his peer group.

Annalise needs something to test her character. A while back I suggested that she could be sexually assaulted or raped, which could possibly drive her obsessive-compulsive disorder into overdrive, trying to get 'clean' and feel safe or something.

Neil - I feel the 'cry wolf' thing his friends seem to have with him is going to end up going somewhere but I think a decent nuclear family could be built around Neil. An elder brother, an elder sister and two parents... with his elderly and terminally ill Grandad living in his living room. Neil's close bond with his Grandad, who often talks to Neil about the law surrounding euthanasia, asks him to help him die. Get a charity involved and cover both sides - whether it's right or wrong. Whatever the outcome, Neil would become interested in studying to become a lawyer.

Bart - Developing the Weed situation would be a good choice for this character I think. Have him begin money laundering to buy a warehouse to use as a grow house. Get a good stunt out of it when a rival dealer burns the place down with people inside.

Dennis - Eventually needs to realise that he is his own person and give up on Leanne. He gets a job as a postman which would be a source of comedy as he goes about his route. It's also a way of linking stories together as he gossips from one door to another. He would eventually find love by one of the regular doors he delivers to - Kelly Saunders (who Duncan had a thing with in Later 2011). Slow growing romance where he attempts to woo her secretly, sending her junk mail just so that he HAS to deliver her mail each day, for instance.

Texas - The behind the scenes reason why she doesn't seem affected by her Silas ordeal is obviously that they planned, wrote and filmed the hostage scene after the following scenes were finished. Not ideal of course as nobody would just be fine after that, so the logical option would be that she has been repressing it as much as possible and hasn't dealt with it at all. Perhaps through a bit of agoraphobia when something reminds her. Infact, throw her into the bank robbery situation with Rob above, which brings it all back to her.

Rhys - Not enjoying the Cindy and Rhys affair at all. I do however understand that Rhys remembers his care-free self and resents the 'happy family' situation he has been put in - bit of a mid life crisis. Either way, I think Rhys could be diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis meaning he can no longer play music or work in hospitality. Leads to Rhys questioning what he really wants in life and after bonding with Baby Osborne, Rhys begins to feel slightly paternal but keeps it to himself due to Jacqui's infertility. Along comes Hayley Ramsey who has returned to Hollyoaks with her brother Zak... and baby Caleb Ashworth. There'll be no chemistry between Rhys and Hayley, it'll be more about Rhys and Jacqui and also her coping with a step-child.

Cheryl - Bronagh can do both serious and comedy very well. For a comedy subplot, she could become obsessed with the idea of becoming a surrogate mother for a gay couple... likely Ste and Doug.

Darren - As time goes on looking after Baby Osborne, he is spending a lot of time inside to keep the baby safe. Take a different spin on his past gambling addiction, and have him become somewhat addicted to Bid TV type TV channels, trying to get the lowest price for crap he doesn't need. At first it would appear like a comedy storyline but it would eventually develop into a serious addiction.

Jacqui - Following the Rhys drama, could possibly hear news on the grapevine that Russ Owen has died. Sends Jacqui into a frenzy bringing back all of her protectiveness for baby Max, and tries to track him down and gain custody. Has a fight on her hands as Max's stepmother has adopted Max over the years... this could be an ex of Russ' or a past character. Not Caroline though... didn't like her much and she's in Shameless now anyway.

Tony - Bring his mum back for a guest stint. Comes to stay and history repeats when she falls for one of Tony's friends again. Rob perhaps.

Diane - I think they missed a trick by introducing Jen as a lodger instead of Diane's younger sister really. The O'Connor family needs rebuilding. I would seriously consider the possibility of linking her to a past Brookside character somehow (not Jacqui Dixon's long lost twin). It'd be a nice celebration of Brookside's 30th anniversary by recreating the link that Matt Musgrove gave us all those years ago. Could also revisit the IVF storyline.

Esther - Slowly losing any identity due to the bullying and also her grandma trying to mold her into Steph 2.0. Feels she doesn't know who she is. Potentially dark storyline depending on how seriously situations affect her.

Osbornes - Jack begins suffering memory loss. Everybody panics that it's Alzheimers and begins preparing for the worst, but it turns out to be a side effect of his blood pressure medication.

McQueens - Always thought they were perfect Jeremy Kyle fodder. Would love a crossover special where they go on stage and shout at each other. The story could be anything from Carmel suffering to cope with her scar or Mercedes being a nutcase.

Phoebe - It's coming anyway but get her to open up about the sexual abuse she has put up with in the last year (and maybe before that, at Mel's)

Maddie - I hate her, but I think she could do Clare Devine 2.0 very well in a few years time. Take her there.

Returns...
I would suggest a return stint from Dom Riley following his 2 years in prison for arson (no idea how long he was actually sentenced to, but 2 years is nearly up now). Doesn't have to be permanent, but give him a happy ending. I want Mandy back, aswell as Zak and Hayley Ramsey. Zak would become a potential love interest for Annalise. Hayley's return would be a guest return showing the difficulties of being a disabled single mother, working closely with Kelly-Marie Stewart's charity Invisible Mums to raise awareness. As mentioned above, I want Kelly Saunders back as I felt she had quite good potential. Also want Nate from Later 2012 back as a love interest for Cheryl.

Axing storylines...
Liberty meets a Gypsy traveller and finds she really enjoys their lifestyle. Could go for a Gypsy Wedding storyline (if Abi's acting was up to it) and following this she would leave with her new husband to live with his family and friends on the road.
Ally could probably just disappear following his 'secret' coming out. If they wanted to link things in, he could be the one to rape Annalise which would lead to his imprisonment and a guest return a few months down the line for a proper trial.
Ash becomes a groupie for a band and starts injecting drugs. As she slowly becomes an addict, she shares a needle and contracts a form of Hepatitis. Ideally this would lead to her death from blood poisoning or something similar.
Will is offered funding to help make a film based on Silas' memoirs, moves away to work on this.
Leanne meets a posh bloke and returns to her bunny boiler ways. His promise of expensive things and high class living is too much for her to resist as she gives up her Uni course and job to go and live with him in London.
Liam just seems like a pointless character at this point, he could just make things up with his girlfriend and move back there quite easily.
Ruby moves to Spain to live with Duncan.
Jono moves to a new location with his family.

Any characters not mentioned I feel already have good future storylines set out for them. Ideally, as many stories as possible should be spawned from the after-effects of those above - for instance, send Martha's alcoholism into overdrive following Ash's death and send Callum to a dark place where he debates hitting the bottle himself.

Originally Posted by Hariken:
“While obviously it's not a "do this and it's sorted" job - trial and error is the most effective way of seeing what works and what doesn't.


Story Ideas
Barney - Quite liked Nate in Hollyoaks Later as a love interest for Cheryl. Could be interesting if he was Barney's brother, perhaps helping him realise he's not as unlike his 2 brothers as his parents would believe. Would also be a bit of a huge coincidence too, but I know Barney and Cheryl had a little thing in the past.


Annalise needs something to test her character. A while back I suggested that she could be sexually assaulted or raped, which could possibly drive her obsessive-compulsive disorder into overdrive, trying to get 'clean' and feel safe or something.

Neil - I feel the 'cry wolf' thing his friends seem to have with him is going to end up going somewhere but I think a decent nuclear family could be built around Neil. An elder brother, an elder sister and two parents... with his elderly and terminally ill Grandad living in his living room. Neil's close bond with his Grandad, who often talks to Neil about the law surrounding euthanasia, asks him to help him die. Get a charity involved and cover both sides - whether it's right or wrong. Whatever the outcome, Neil would become interested in studying to become a lawyer.


Dennis - Eventually needs to realise that he is his own person and give up on Leanne. He gets a job as a postman which would be a source of comedy as he goes about his route. It's also a way of linking stories together as he gossips from one door to another. He would eventually find love by one of the regular doors he delivers to - Kelly Saunders (who Duncan had a thing with in Later 2011). Slow growing romance where he attempts to woo her secretly, sending her junk mail just so that he HAS to deliver her mail each day, for instance.


Cheryl - Bronagh can do both serious and comedy very well. For a comedy subplot, she could become obsessed with the idea of becoming a surrogate mother for a gay couple... likely Ste and Doug.


Maddie - I hate her, but I think she could do Clare Devine 2.0 very well in a few years time. Take her there.

Returns...
I would suggest a return stint from Dom Riley following his 2 years in prison for arson (no idea how long he was actually sentenced to, but 2 years is nearly up now). Doesn't have to be permanent, but give him a happy ending. I want Mandy back, aswell as Zak and Hayley Ramsey. Zak would become a potential love interest for Annalise. Hayley's return would be a guest return showing the difficulties of being a disabled single mother, working closely with Kelly-Marie Stewart's charity Invisible Mums to raise awareness. As mentioned above, I want Kelly Saunders back as I felt she had quite good potential. Also want Nate from Later 2012 back as a love interest for Cheryl.

Axing storylines...
Liberty meets a Gypsy traveller and finds she really enjoys their lifestyle. Could go for a Gypsy Wedding storyline (if Abi's acting was up to it) and following this she would leave with her new husband to live with his family and friends on the road.
Ally could probably just disappear following his 'secret' coming out. If they wanted to link things in, he could be the one to rape Annalise which would lead to his imprisonment and a guest return a few months down the line for a proper trial.”

love all these ideas especially neil's family and dennis the postman

Oh, another thing! TPTB should definitely be focused on trying to find "the next Emmett Scanlan", because if they don't have the next big thing BEFORE Scanlan jumps ship, they'll be left with an absolutely huge gap in the show and viewers will notice. Every era needs its' hero.

This is precisely the main challenge that TPTB face and should be putting most of their energies into. Emmett Scanlan's pointy shoes are huge shoes to fill. Frankly, I don't think it can be done, but they certainly should be putting something into place already in preparation for the Sad Day.

Yep. Obviously, plans could already be being discussed for all that the average fan knows. Just gotta hope that characters like Liam and Ally aren't brought in with this in mind... some actors are okay, but they're not exactly thrilling viewing.

I think the 'thrilling' viewing is the key to long-term audience really. Some stories might be good and need to be told, but are we really on the edge of our seats to find out if Ryan's going to bum George this week or if Liam's going to get the girl? Hardly. Hence why alot of these sort of stories do more harm than good... nobody cares enough to tune in the next day to find out what happens.

Axe- Maddie, Ruby, Sinead, Bart, Neil, Jono, Tilly, Jen + brother, Teresa, Liberty and the whole Savage family, Texas and Leanne.

If i was the producer this is what i would do:

i would Axe: Maddie- after Esther gets revenge she is disowned by everyone and decides to leave
Jono- decides to go to uni
Neil- leaves to be near his family after they move abroad
Bart- continues to dabble in drugs and ends up taking an overdose and then ends up in a coma with brain damage with Myra and the rest of the Mcqueens taking the decison to turn off his life support after doctors say he can not be saved
Ally- Decides to go back backpacking after Martha throws him out of the kane household
Texas- Decides to leave the village after being mugged and regaining memories of being held hostage by Silas
Liberty - Decides to go to uni to study a music degree so she can further her music career.


I would Bring Back:: James 'Jambo' Bolton - Tony's old friend returns after 14 years deciding to surprise Tony but finds him in a state after Cindy's affair and trys to cheer him up but hides the real reason he has returned, hes a runaway groom! again probably a short stint as Will Mellor is busy these days.

Holly - Holly runs away from boarding school back to the village to see her mum whilst hiding a dark secret ( possibly recast Holly as well)
Dom Riley - Realeased from jail, comes back to the village to try and make amends with Tony but its not going to be very easy as Tony refuses to talk to him.
Kris Fisher - Returns to the village after Myra desperately calls him to ask if he can visit mercedes who has been sectioned. only a short stint.

Amy - not sure if she has officially left or not but she would return with the kids to comfort Ste after doug leaves him and decides to study at Hollyoaks uni.

Rob Conner - returns for a 2nd chance with diane and his family but its not without its difficulties as his new GF is not far behind.....


As well as these i would bring a new family of 4 in who open a new cafe which is similar to il nosh

Also revisit Esther and Tilly after Esthers bullying ordeal Tilly comforts her with leads to more and they decide to make a go of it.

Would all of those stories be thrilling viewing for you, Ricky? No offence meant but they wouldn't have me dying to tune in the day after to find out what would happen.

On a lighter note, I agree with a Jambo stint. Obviously Will has moved on but would love him and Carol to be happily married, only because of the fantastic chemistry Natalie Casey and Will Mellor have together. An event would have to trigger a return though, such as Tony's birthday or a Wedding.

I don't think they should be trying to find "the next Emmett Scanlan" (like that's even possible!) - they should be doing whatever it takes to keep the one they've got!

I don't care if he's too good for Hollyoaks, and wants to do other things. I don't want him to leave. At least not for a good while. I'm sure they could come up with some pretty damn good incentives to make him sign another contract, if they tried hard enough!



eta: the idea of Nate coming into the show as Barney's brother is quite inspired - it would be great to see Barney with a real SL. I thought it might happen after he got disowned by his parents, but sadly it was another one of those one-week plots that went nowhere. :sleep:

I'd love Brendan to stick around forever, yeah, but its not going to happen. Actors like Emmett are attracted to challenge and change rather than job security and money - eventually his story is going to be told and he won't want to run the character into the ground. It sucks, and it took me ages to accept but I've managed it now.

I agree with everything you say about Emmett wanting the challenge of something new rather than money and job security, so I do accept (sadly) that he'll leave at some point. I don't expect 'forever'. I'm just not ready for it to happen in the next few months. I think there's still plenty of good mileage in the character.

We've still got him until at least February, don't worry.