Channel 4 has announced it will cut popular TV soap Hollyoaks from its weekly schedule, with episodes now moving over to E4 and YouTube.

It comes as the broadcaster announced it would take a “streaming-first” approach last year.

Hollyoaks first began showing on Channel 4 in 1995 and is set in Chester – the series aims to entertain a younger demographic.

Channel 4 announces major Hollyoaks schedule change

Later this month, Channel 4 will stop airing episodes of Hollyoaks for the first time in 28 years and the programme will move to its new permanent home on E4.

On Friday (September 9), Channel 4 said Hollyoaks will be available to watch on channel4.com the day before airing on the E4 channel.

The broadcaster will also put episodes of Hollyoaks on YouTube a week after they are broadcast on E4 and streamed on its own platform.

However, there will be a weekly omnibus on the main station.

Previously, the channel’s on-demand service had the episodes uploaded in the morning before later transmissions on E4.

In 2022, Hollyoaks became the first UK soap to premiere its episodes on a streaming service ahead of the live television broadcast.

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Channel 4’s chief content officer, Ian Katz, said: “Hollyoaks has always been the youngest and most innovative soap so it’s fitting that it should be the first to embrace the changes in the behaviour of younger viewers and switch to a genuinely digital-led release pattern.

“It was the first UK soap to move to a stream-first model last year and this is the next phase of that evolution.

“We hope making Hollyoaks available on YouTube, as well as our own platforms, will introduce a whole new generation to the show.”

When will Hollyoaks permanently air on E4?

The new schedule pattern begins on September 25 as the week kicks off with a one-hour special, which focuses on a love triangle and “murder twists and turns.”

In the soap, Felix Westwood (Richard Blackwood), his girlfriend Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe) and best friend Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas) reach an “explosive turning point” and a secret about influencer Rayne Royce (Jemma Donovan) is revealed.