Soap

Hollyoaks actors axed

Soap spoiler alert! In a complete overhaul, Channel 4 has axed several characters from hit show 'Hollyoaks'.

A total of 11 cast members have been cut, leaving the number of stars in line to leave the show now standing at 16.

New series producer Paul Marquess - who has made considerable cast changes since he joined in January 2010 – is to axe many favourite charaters.

The entire Valentine clan will get the chop – consisting of father Leo (Brian Bovell), Sasha (Nathalie Emmanuelle) and Lauren (Dominique Jackson).

The family are set to leave when a shooting involving Calvin (Ricky Whittle) happens towards the end of May. The upcoming dramatic storyline was foreshadowed in a "flashforward" episode last year.

Also leaving will be Zak Ramsay (Kent Riley), Spencer Gray (Darren Langford) and Archie Carpenter (Stephen Beard).

Screen couple Jake Dean (Kevin Sacre) and Loretta Jones (Melissa Walton) are set to bow out of the programme.

Troubled teen Barry "Newt" Newton (Nico Mirallegro) will walkout of the village, alongside relative newcomers Dave Colburn (Elliot James Langridge) and Des Townsend (Kris Deedigan.

Cross-dresser Kris, played by Gerard McCarthy, is unlikely to remain in Hollyoaks either, as he prepares to take to the stage in new dance spectacular 'Flashdance The Musical'.

Earlier in the year, it was revealed that members of the Ashworth family were to be culled.

The news came instantly as Paul Marquess took his seat as the replacement for long-running producer Lucy Allan, where he announced that student Josh Ashworth and his parents Suzanne and Neville - played by Sonny Flood, Suzanne Hall and Jim Millea – would be written out.