Hollyoaks  Hollyoaks is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera "Brookside". The programme is set in the fictional village of Hollyoaks, a suburb of Chester, and is filmed at Lime Pictures in Liverpool's Childwall suburb. Since 2001, episodes have been aired on E4 a day before its broadcast on Channel 4. At its inception, the soap was targeted towards an adolescent and young adult audience, but now has broadened its appeal to all age groups. It has famously covered many taboo subjects rarely seen on British television. Beginning with a cast of 14 characters, it now has upwards of 50 regular cast members. The longest-serving actor is Nick Pickard, who has played Tony Hutchinson since the first episode. The programme has won 39 British Soap Awards, 18 Inside Soap Awards, one TRIC Award, and one National Television Award. It won the award for Best British Soap twice, in 2014 and 2019; its first win broke the 15-year tie between rival soap operas "EastEnders" and "Coronation Street". "Hollyoaks" is produced by Lime Pictures (formerly known as Mersey Television prior to its takeover by All3Media) and is primarily filmed at its studios in Childwall, a suburb of south Liverpool. Bryan Kirkwood joined the show as executive producer in 2006, but left three years later to become producer of "EastEnders". After he left his role in 2009, a number of producers worked on the show, resulting in a number of creative reinventions and changes in direction during this time. Lucy Allan was named as Kirkwood's successor. In 2010, Allan announced she was to step down from the series after only a year, being replaced by Paul Marquess. Speaking of her decision, Allan stated: "I am very proud to have been part of the "Hollyoaks" team. I've had a fantastic time working on this show but am now equally excited about what the future will hold." On his upcoming role of series producer, Marquess said: "Taking up this position at Lime Pictures feels like I'm going home, as I began my career working with both Carolyn [Reynolds] and Tony [Wood] at Granada and my first major project was "Brookside" at Mersey Television. I'm a huge soap fan so to be handed the reins of Channel 4's flagship teen drama is not only a huge challenge but also a massive honour."