Nikki Sanderson and Jeremy Sheffield say Hollyoaks' reputation is 'unfair' (VIDEO)

(Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Hollyoaks actors Jeremy Sheffield and Nikki Sanderson hope the Best Soap prize it won at the British Soap Awards will allow the Channel 4 soap to shake off it's 'unfair reputation'.

The pair play on-screen couple Patrick Blake and Maxine Minniver and told What's on TV it was time the prime-time soaps like EastEnders and Corrie took notice.

Nikki said: "I think Hollyoaks deserved [Best Soap] because over the past few years it's hugely changed in its concept and the way it works and what you see on screen... and the quality of what's been shown on screen at the moment. I think it still has a reputation that's very unfair because at the moment Hollyoaks has some outstanding actors, fantastic scripts, fantastic storylines..."

Jeremy added: "We're dealing with some really big subjects for our younger audience and it does a really great job."

Watch our chat with Hollyoaks' Nikki Sanderson and Jeremy Sheffield:

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.