Hollyoaks under Kirkwood

In Media Guardian (free registration required) Stephen Armstrong talks to Hollyoaks Producer, Bryan Kirkwood, about the show's revival.

Kirkwood, 31, joined the show in January 2006 straight from the Coronation Street writers' room where he'd worked on Richard Hillman's killing spree and Peter and Shelly's bigamous marriage. When he arrived, it's fair to say the Hollyoaks awards cupboard was a fairly dusty place - one win in 2005, two in 2006.

He set about changing the show from the ground up, losing half the writers' room and some 15 cast members. "Hollyoaks used to have a reputation for blonde blandness," he says. "I don't have a problem with really good-looking actors, but I do want them to be able to act. We replaced the departing writers with some strong talent from the Liverpool theatre scene because a soap is only as strong as its storylines. I want to make Hollyoaks credible and cool like The OC and Dawson's Creek. That's where I see its future."