Soap Watch

It looks like Sally Webster is getting a new love interest and thank god it's NOT Tyrone! Steven Hougton has joined the cast of Corrie as a businessman Jeff, who originally catches Gail Platt's eye. He must see sense or someone tells him all her husbands have died because he soon asks Sally out which makes Kevin extremely jealous. More punch-ups in the street anyone? Jeff will appear on 7th February.


Kym Marsh has took her maturity leave 4 months earlier than planned. The star announced her pregnancy in October last year. Marsh and her partner Jamie Lomas who plays Warren Fox in Hollyoaks, lost their prematurely-born baby in February 2009. The soap actress has took the extra time off, so there are no risks to this pregnancy going wrong. We hope everything goes well for them two.


Craig Gazey has announced he is leaving Corrie. He will bow out of the soap in July. His character Grahame was originally introduced to the show when David Platt was sent to the Youth Offenders Institution in 2008. He was then released and moved in with the Platt's and has since went on to work in the Butchers with recently deceased Ashley Peacock and he is currently in a relationship with Tine McIntyre. Gazey was named 'Best Newcomer' at the 2010 NTA's. Sad to see him go.


Samia Smith who plays Maria Connor has announced she and her husband Matthew have separated after 5 years of marriage. In a joint statement the couple said that there is no-one else involved and it was a mutual decision. The would like privacy for the sake of their 2 year old daughter Freya.


The Corrie team have confirmed that Sean Tully and Marcus Dent will indeed rekindle their relationship but did not confirm wether the rumors about a civil partnership were true or not. Charlie Condou who plays Marcus is set to return to the soap in March after leaving back in 2008.

Drama, Drama, Drama. As well as in the Square's it's happening in real life. This whole baby swapping plot has really got people angry.


Samantha Womack who plays Ronnie Mitchell, who is the character who swapped the babies after hers died of cot death, was quit the show. The Sun reported that Womack quit because the soap went too far with this new storyline. She apparently wrote a letter to the bosses saying the storyline was wrong and that she wanted to leave, but they managed to persuade her to stay and film the scenes and then she could leave in May. According to sources, the shows executive's offered her a pay rise in order to stay, but Womack declined stating that she was a mother first, an actor second. It's also been reported that a fan of the show verbally attacked Womack while she was with her children aged 9 and 5. The fan called her a murdering bitch infront of her children! Terrible.


The storyline has become so talked about, that is the most complained about storyline in the history of soap. The BBC has received 8,400 complaints from viewers. 374 complaints have been made to the broadcaster regulator Ofcom but they have said there is no plans to launch an investigation. Sadly this is the second time a storyline Womack was in that has received a lot of complaints. 7,000 people complained back in April 2009 about her character's daughters death. Unlucky.


Producer Bryan Kirkwood has confirmed the plot will end earlier than planned due to all the complaints. The storyline was originally supposed to end on Christmas day 2011 with Kat getting her baby back, but the ending has been pushed forward to April, where Ronnie will give the baby back to Kat and it will focus on the happiness that her baby is alive and well.

Both Sammy Winward who plays Katie Sugden and Sian Reese-Williams who plays Genie Dingle have said the upcoming Emmerdale fire was terrifying and intense. Both characters are in peril during the fire which is started by an unknown arsonist. Winward said that the smoke made it hard for her to breathe and played havoc on her asthma which she diagnosed with 2 years ago. Reese-Williams said although her character doesn't get to see the flames much, she is trapped by the black smoke from the fire and that the whole stunt is very impressive. The fire begins on Wednesday and continues through Thursday and Friday. 2 characters will die.

Hollyoaks is getting another new producer it's been revealed! Script Editor Gareth Phillips has been promoted to the soap's acting producer after Paul Marquess left once his 12 month contract was up. Phillips hasn't revealed any of his plans for 2011 as of yet, but I guess he'll just be following Marquess' storylines currently happening. Was I the only one that didn't know Paul Marquess was only staying for a year? He's improved the show alot, although I still refuse to watch it. I'm surprised he didn't stay longer with the large amount of characters he introduced.

Stefan Denis who plays Paul Robinson has denied reports that the recent cutback of crew on Neighbours means the show is in a crisis. The cutback meant the show's location manager, catering staff, technical directors and art directors were all let go and the show will move to the use of 1 or 2 cameras instead of 3. Denis called it a business decision and there's nothing that could be done really. Neighbours is about to make it's move from Channel Ten to Eleven in Australia this week.


Ian Smith who plays Harold Bishop has talked about his return for the first time. Smith revealed that his character is returning to help an old friend and he'll be back 6 weeks or a few months.