Hollyoaks: 11 more cast members to face the axe?

Hollyoaks is to say goodbye to a further 11 cast members as new producer Paul Marquess wields the axe. The number of stars in line to leave the show now stands at 16, according to reports on Digital Spy. Among those facing the chop are the whole Valentine clan - Sasha (Nathalie Emmanuelle), Lauren (Dominique Jackson) and Leo (Brian Bovell) - while Calvin (Ricky Whittle) will leave towards the end of May as part of a shooting storyline, foreshadowed in a "flashforward" episode last year. Zak Ramsay, played by Kent Riley, Spencer Gray (Darren Langford) and Archie Carpenter (Stephen Beard) are all being written out. Screen lovers Jake Dean (Kevin Sacre) and Loretta Jones (Melissa Walton) are set to bow out of the programme, as are Barry "Newt" Newton (Nico Mirallegro) and relative newcomers Dave Colburn (Elliot James Langridge) and Des Townsend (Kris Deedigan). Gerard McCarthy, who plays bisexual cross-dresser Kris Fisher, has chosen to leave too as he prepares to take part in Flashdance - The Musical in the West End. Earlier this year, it was announced that three of the Ashworth clan - Josh (Sonny Flood), Suzanne (Suzanne Hall) and Neville (Jim Millea) - are being written out. Marquess, who has taken over from Lucy Allan as series producer of Hollyoaks, cut a number of characters when he took the reins at police drama The Bill. 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.