[XIII]

I imagine double Simpsons for now but I wonder if Channel 4 might go for something at 6pm that plays well against the news.

I do wonder if Home and Away's afternoon showing on Channel 5 is numbered? It'd be pretty easy to extend the Jeremy Vine, Storm Huntley and Alexis Conran's block by another half an hour.

[Brekkie]

I imagine double Simpsons for now but I wonder if Channel 4 might go for something at 6pm that plays well against the news.

I do wonder if Home and Away's afternoon showing on Channel 5 is numbered? It'd be pretty easy to extend the Jeremy Vine, Storm Huntley and Alexis Conran's block by another half an hour.

Well it's at least six weeks since they last extended the block so it's probably due.   Agree though without Neighbours it seems a bit lost in the afternoon schedule, though perhaps is a bit of a loss leader into their afternoon Hallmark style films.

I think that is part of the reason that Hollyoaks has lost it's C4 airing rather than it's E4 airing as airing just before C4 News means it doesn't really bring an audience in for the subsequent programme, whilst over on E4 it likely does retain viewers for shows such as Married at First Sight and Below Deck.

[tellyblues]

What Hollyoaks gets in viewers isn't far off what C4 shows in daytime get and although it should be doing better in the slot, it's worth remembering that its aimed at a specific demographic who move on if they're not interested and can find other shows to watch more readily than say viewers of Corrie etc who stick around. It's also not helped by the fact that it follows The Simpsons which is done and well past its best and I doubt its audience would want to watch Hollyoaks anyway for the virtue of being too young or even too old.

No doubt it will be double Simpsons in future, which is lazy, but it's better than another lifestyle/property/cooking/quiz show for an audience that is already overrepresented.

[Stuart]

I remember back in the day on the Blue Place when we enthused for weeks over a delay to a new Hollyoaks title sequence.  Those days have long gone, and I certainly stopped watching quite some time ago.

I'm outside their target demographic now, and the only time I catch some of it is if I'm sat having my tea and decide to watch C4 News at 7pm, so I see the end of it. Well, obviously that won't happen any more.

It did actually look quite dreadful, but soaps tend to do that if you don't know any of the characters or storylines and see it for just 5 minutes once in a while. For the same reason, if someone sat me in front of EastEnders I'd probably fall asleep, or just appear very confused.

This almost seems like what they did with Brookside - shuffling it off into late evenings and then announcing "nobody is watching, so we'll cancel it".

[DJ Dave]

Not watched it for years, I remember them back in the day actually filming loads on location in Chester, for me I think it lost its roots when it stopped being about student life and about the hospital which was previously Bev's Bar/ Bar Brookie/SU Bar.

[Stuart]

Not watched it for years, I remember them back in the day actually filming loads on location in Chester, for me I think it lost its roots when it stopped being about student life and about the hospital which was previously Bev's Bar/ Bar Brookie/SU Bar.

I wonder if they go down the Brookside route when they get cancelled completely, by having a go at C4 in a childish way.

Brookside created a sinister criminal character called 'Jack Michaelson' who had a rather unenviable death. He was named after C4 CEO Michael Jackson.

[Brekkie]

Depends if Phil Redmond returns to oversee it's conclusion. He doesn't seem to have had as much affection for this creation as he did Brookside or Grange Hill though.

It is worth noting that a couple of weeks ago the much criticised executive producer and two other senior producers were announced to be leaving, which surely must coincide with Lime Pictures being informed of the axing of the C4 airing. Sadly it's been on the cards for a long time and anyone watching could see that action needed taking and a few producers and actors needed to lose their jobs now to give the rest of the cast and crew the best chance of retaining their jobs long term.

As a long term fan I wouldn't mourn it now too much if it went. Indeed I had given up on it but the run of "Favourites" episodes during covid got me back into it, though more with a critical eye than lapping it up. It's very clear though when it focuses on it's roots it is so much stronger - the current teen group is easily the strongest in over a decade (indeed the strongest since the likes of John Paul and Nancy were the teen characters themselves). Hopefully at the very least the move to E4 may make it focus on a younger audience again, although just like ITV2 the channel itself aims for a slightly older audience now anyhow.

I think all three actually have a bit of an identity crisis about whether they need to grow up alongside the audience that watched 20 years ago or try and embrace the even more difficult to attract teen and 16-34 audience of today. I think what Hollyoaks forgets though is those of us who grew up with it enjoyed it because it did focus on younger characters and teen/student storylines, and just because we're middle aged now doesn't necessarily mean we want to watch middle aged characters. The other soaps tick that box.

[James2001]

I'd like to hope he's realised the bitter way he ended Brookside only served to hurt the show's already declining reputation and wouldn't do similar again.

[TVFan]

According to Digiguide, from the 25th, The Simpsons is moving to Hollyoaks’ slot at 6:30pm, whilst the 6pm slot is taken up by Four in a Bed (and presumably other daytime fare in the future):

twitter.com 

To avoid clashing, Sky are changing their Simpsons times as well, with the current arrangement of one episode at 5pm and three from 6:30 becoming an hour at 5pm and another hour at 7pm.

[Brekkie]

Seems odd to use that as a lead in - might be better off with a double bill at 5pm then Four in a Bed / Come Dine with Me in the 6pm hour.

Suspect this is all quite temporary - seems to be a move they've made without considering it's replacement, though of course nowadays commercial TV often tries to not have to commission new content to fill newly created gaps in the schedule.