‘Hollyoaks’ boss Bryan Kirkwood is "very, very proud" of his cast.
The showrunner has paid tribute to the stars of the Channel 4 soap ahead of this week’s shocking scenes, which sees the wedding of Porsche McQueen and Lockie Campbell derailed in dramatic fashion when their party train crashes.
Bryan said: "I’m so proud of this cast. I’m well aware of how our show can occasionally be put down in really lazy, out-of-date ways, but I think our turns are fantastic.
"Our performances are shoulder-to-shoulder with every other show on TV. I’m very, very proud of every one of them."
Bryan was particularly happy the cast were willing to do their own stunts and they got to crash the train for real because he felt it looked more realistic than using CGI technology to complete the scenes.
He said: "It’s quite easy to go for CGI and much more difficult to do it for real, but I think the results are clear on screen. We have a fantastic post-production house at Lime. I think we’ve got the best in-house graphics department – certainly in soap, but I think in TV. They certainly help with some episodes, but I think it’s definitely better to do it for real."
However, the producer admitted his backstage team initially thought he was going "too far" with his vision for the spectacular stunt but he was thrilled they were able to bring it to life.
Speaking at a screening of the crash episodes – which have been dubbed ‘End of the Line’ because not all characters will survive – he said: "We’ve got an exceptional designer at Hollyoaks called Julian Perkins, who’s worked with me for eight years. When I said, ‘Julian, can we crash a train?’, I thought he was going to punch me in the face!
"He did say, ‘I think we’re going too far, I don’t think we’re going to achieve what you want to achieve on this budget’. But he did – and he absolutely over-delivered again, so it’s absolute credit to him for being such a genius."
‘Hollyoaks’ airs weeknights on Channel 4 at 6.30pm, with first-look episodes at 7pm.
Hollyoaks boss praises show cast
