Alex Carter returns to Hollyoaks

Alex Carter returns to Hollyoaks (Image credit: EMPICS Entertainment)

Alex Carter is returning to Hollyoaks, soap bosses have confirmed. The 27-year-old - who recently anounced his departure from Emmerdale - is reprising the role of Lee Hunter, who he played between 2001 and 2005, as part of new producer Paul Marquess's shake-up at the soap. A show source told Digital Spy: "It's no secret that Hollyoaks isn't at its best, but Paul's decision to bring Alex back into the fold shows that he's committed to taking it back to its best. "He wasn't really used at Emmerdale, but that'll change here." Alex played postman Jamie Hope in the rural soap from 2006, and last month announced his decision to leave. New producer Paul has taken the axe to a string of characters in the teen soap as he makes his mark on the show. Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk’s weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.