Hollyoaks star breaks silence on ‘rollercoaster’ return to Channel 4 soap amid cast cull

HOLLYOAKS star Charlie Clapham has described his return after seven years as a "rollercoaster" amid its cast cull.

The actor who plays Freddie Roscoe broke silence on the "eventful" time at the Channel 4 soap.

Hollyoaks bosses recently announced that many actors are being axed as a major shake-up plays out.

Speaking to the , Charlie said: "There’s a lot going on isn’t there. It’s been great, it’s been a lot of fun.

"It has been a bit of a rollercoaster as well. I feel like every week there's a new announcement, someone is leaving or someone is joining.

"It's a very eventful period of time to be coming back to the show, but it definitely feels like for me the timing is right for a return, and I am exactly where I'm meant to be."

Charlie insists the changes are for the best - with storylines becoming more "heightened and dramatic"

He added: "Each week could be its own movie, each character coming to life in such a beautiful way and I believe now is the time to get in.

"Strap yourself in for the ride, because it's gonna be one hell of a rollercoaster. You have no telling where it's gonna go and I think it could be Golden Era 2.0 loaded!"

Steph Waring became the latest casualty of the cull.

She revealed that it wasn't her choice to leave and she was disappointed her character was being written out.

Hollyoaks' executive producer Hannah Cheers confirmed that the program will undergo a one-year time jump during its autumn stunt week in September before being reduced from five episodes a week to only three.

The "lost year" storyline, as announced in an official statement by Hannah, will sadly involve waving "goodbye to some much-loved Hollyoaks villagers - and some earlier than we would have expected to."

"When we started talking about the move to three episodes a week, we realised we needed a mechanism through which to transition our stories and characters and we kept coming back to this one", Hannah explained.

"It’s bold, daring and is a first for a UK soap, it sums Hollyoaks up perfectly.

"Fast-forwarding the show permanently by a year presents us with unlimited story possibilities."