They usually arrive end of August/beginning of September, so I'm assuming we aren't getting any freshers this year? I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing, last year we only got Psycho Jade because BK wanted to focus on 'Tilly and George's integration into university' (but did he, no he didn't!) so it's probably best we don't get them, but at the same time it's a Hollyoaks tradition :/

they don't use the college or the su bar anymore as they have been replaced with the hospital set (the first a&e hospital ive ever seen in a small village but thats a topic for another day), Hollyoaks has clearly lost its focus on students soI don't see BK bringing any freshers for the foreseeable

TBH every year there's only one or two freshers I actually like so in some ways I'm glad in some ways not as freshers week was normally exciting but it normally became quite boring after that.

I still miss the last batch of Freshers; Barney, Annalise, Rob, Ash and Scott. Of course they (like most characters the audience seems to like) weren't given the time of day.

Doesn't look like there will be any freshers, no. Seems like BK dropped that to concentrate of the families that he keeps on killing off.

Friend of my son was auditioning for part in a new family end of July, she didn't get the part and they said the " family" didn't come across as a family or something like that so not sure if they will keep looking for new people or ditch the idea

Hollyoaks moved away from the HCC stuff to focus on the sixth form in 2011-2012, which was a massive fail and ended in most of them dying. They never returned to it, just replaced it with the gangsta rubbish and all them murders and deaths.

Was it ever mentioned why Halls closed down?

I think all that has been dropped now and BK is focusing on families more. I think if we so get new characters they will only be linked with the current characters. The last brand new characters we have had where the Roscoes but since all the new ones are linked with someone from the show like - Grace, Sonny (recast though), Nico, Cameron ect.

They need to make their mind up which direction the show is going

I think losing the youth focus is a big mistake; it's what makes Hollyoaks different.

Blessing is a student as is Tegan; bringing in acouple of new characters may allow more potential to develop. The problem with the last batch and with the sixth formers was that there were too many new people and we knew at least half would be axed by the New Year.

The Roscods typify the obsession with family. They constantly go on about the importance of the family but devote their time to petty squabbles. Apart from Freddie with Sinead, they haven't really found a way to successfully integrate them into the village. The reason why Robbie and Jason work fine is because they have other interests beyond the family.

Have you not been here for the last year?!
BK has completely changed the show

What the show used to be was a vibrant, modernised soap opera mainly focusing on issues between younger characters. When you're young you tend to jump from place t place and I always considered HO one of those places, with a few staying long term. It was a little 'out there' but still stuck to it theme and was good at what it did.

Now, BK would rather have some show about gritty family issues. I mean it's not as if we already have another certain show called EatEnders doing that, but you know. BK has decided to get rid of, usually killing, nearly every younger/smaller character and has now introduced a ton of new characters he wants to stay long term which for a vibrant show like HO doesn't really work. The show worked best when we had a good few long termies like Tony, Cindy, Jack, Darren, Frankie, Mercedes e.t.c and several characters coming and going. This whole new idea of long term families wouldn't even be so bad but all the characters are just crap and the type you don't WANT to stick around for long. Now we just get cliche, OTT 'family' issues. It's honestly the biggest load of rubbish, it's as if you know exactly what is going to happen and what they're going to say because it's so cliche.

When's the last time we actually had a good long term plot? The show is embarrassing to watch now. BK is incapable of carrying out a long term storyline and instead has to make something big happen EVERY bloody episode. I mean in the last episode we had Blessing reunite with her mother after collapsing from septicaemia and her mother my accepting her as a transgender, Patrick attack Sienna and Nico call the police on him, Sandy find out one of her sons is a murderer and annoyed tried to gas her and Joe get out of prison and reuniting with his brother that framed him for murder.

All of this would seem huge in any other soap but it's suppose to be day to day stuff on HO which is embarrassing! And it wouldn't be so bad but the acting and dialogue is so crap!

Please get rid of BK!

It was a mistake to focus so heavily on the teen group (most of them awful characters) when Emma Smithwick first took over. But the show learnt from that and came to have a good balance. I loved the freshers group we'd get every year. It could be hit and miss, but it was part of Hollyoaks. I thought the last group was the best, with Annalise, Barney and Scott. All so underused

BK has gone too far in changing things. Like Matt's said, we already have EE for the "gritty" family plots. The Roscoes could fit right in there, with Sandy's talk of her family. I hope the next producer will bring the students back.

It is funny but I used to watch Bold and Beautiful. The other day I thought I would check up to see what has happened to a character who has been in the soap since the beginning. I laughed when I read all the outrageous things that has happened. The character has been married and had so many affairs including with her daughter's husband. That is the charm of American soaps that they are mad but they never take themselves seriously and they are fun to watch.

Reading your post HO is dangerously close to becoming like that except HO does take itself seriously which as you say makes it embarrassing to watch.

First, let me just say that BK's an IDIOT AND A LUNATIC.

But I think the focus on gangsters and dark drama and the move away from students is probably just a byproduct of how the last producer's era went.

The big success during ES's time was of course Brendan Brady, and her students were the big fail, so Kirkwood's just followed suit, hoping the grittiness is what people still want and the students are just an afterthought/by the wayside.

Bryan's just made a waste of all the potential that's there though. Trevor's a decent enough character, but there's no depth to go along with the gangster drama.
And it was only a year ago that this show still respected it's long-standing characters like with Tony's cancer storyline. The focus is now just on the overuse of bad actors and OMGs and lazy storytelling. A lack of students is besides the point in the bigger scheme of things. The few students that are left are crap anyway (and I want George to die screaming), but then so are a majority of the cast. It's quality over brackets.

Well, Blessing's a good young character. I say cull the Roscoes and bring in a few interesting freshers.

None of them ever graduate anyway. Leanne graduated with a 3rd class honour, then she died.