Hollyoaks to introduce a new family

Hollyoaks is to introduce a new family this year, producer Paul Marquess has revealed.

The new boss, who has taken the axe to a string of characters as part of his shake-up of the soap, said he is looking forward to bringing in a new clan.

Writing on the soap's website, Paul said: "We're particularly excited about the new family that will join the show in the summer - and guarantee they'll bring glitz, glamour and great stories to the Hollyoaks village!"

A total of 16 characters are being phased out of the show in the coming months.

These include the entire Valentine clan, three members of the Ashworth family and Jake Dean (Kevin Sacre), Archie Carpenter (Stephen Beard), Zak Ramsey (Kent Riley) and Spencer Gray (Darren Langford).

Addressing the slew of departures, he said: "Sadly we will be losing some characters as storylines progress and actors' contracts come to an end. But we've created lots of fantastic new characters that we're currently casting for."

He promised there would be 'lots of exciting things coming up, with a lot of dramatic, funny and heartbreaking storylines in the pipeline'.

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