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Last night our lovely Hollyoaks cast members were spreading their ethereal glow at some hotel or other to celebrate some launch or other. To be honest, the details are incidental, what is important is that cast members looked stunning. You can see pics of such artistes as Jen Metcalfe (Mercedes), Jess Fox (Nancy), Elliot James Langridge (Dave) and Nat Emmanuel (Sasha) letting their hair down and raising glasses for something or other here.

… Let’s hope we’ll be raising our glasses to Kieron Richardson come Sunday night. Kieron, who plays bad ass Ste, we’ll be competing in the third round of ITV1’s Dancing On Ice at 6.15pm. He needs your votes! We spoke to Kieron yesterday and asked him the questions that have been burning your lips. He answered them in this video! I'd watch it if I were you. It's good!

Speaking of videos, have a gander at Zoe’s leaving video. That’s right! Zoe’s left! So has the “DILF” Mike Barnes. He’s got a leaving interview too. And… there’s a Mike/Zoe quiz on the go. Will you pass the test or will you fail like Zoe did with her degree?

So, today’s the day. The day we at Hollyoaks HQ hoped would never arrive. Zoe “The Carpenter” Carpenter is packing up her beautiful happy-go-lucky face and going travelling. We know she’s had it hard of late - what with the failing her degree thing, the best mate dying thing, the getting stabbed and nearly dying thing – but we hoped she could look past these trivialities and, you know, just get on with it. Apparently not.

Zoe, who plays her namesake, explains the how, why and who with of her character’s departure in this lovely video. Get your tissues at the ready. It’s as emotional as an episode of Rolf’s Animal Hospital. In fact, I’d say it’s an award winning video…

“Award, you say?” Well, yes. I did say! So, whilst I’m saying things about awards and the like, it seems an apt opportunity to mention that Hollyoaks is up for yet more accolades. We’ve got a couple of nominees at the 2010 TRIC Awards (the what awards!?). Firstly, Ricky Whittle (Calvin) is up for TV Soap Personality and, secondly, we’re up for TV Soap of the Year. Get in! It seems like the general public can’t actually vote for these nominees, so quite why we’re telling you we’re nominated I’m not sure. I guess I’m just boasting.

And finally, keep your Dancing On Ice questions for Kieron Richardson (who plays the baddest man in the world, Ste) rolling in! Fingers crossed, we’ll be filming our catch-up with him this week. Just leave your questions below. Check out our previous interviews with Kieron to get an idea about what we talk about.

So, this week two big Hollyoaks characters are set to depart the village. These characters are (… drumroll… still drumming… cymbal crash…) Zoe Carpenter and Mike Barnes!

Since getting stabbed by her late ex-girlfriend’s ex-lover (!), Zoe has quite understandably wanted to move away from the village of doom and set her heart on travelling. Barnesy’s not had a good time of it either. What with splitting up from his wife, his grandchild nearly being kidnapped and his daughter’s death, Mike’s realised that perhaps a change of scenery would do him good! So on Wednesday the afore-mentioned pair (and another village resident!) depart Hollyoaks for foreign climes and fun times. We’ll blimmin’ well miss those guys!

Turn that frown upside down! It’s not all bad news! You can win their wardrobe (well, some of their wardrobe!) in our latest competition that we’ve wittily entitled ‘Win Zoe and Mike’s Clothes’. Sometimes we don’t know where our genius comes from…

Did you see Kieron Richardson (Ste) blitz Dancing On Ice’s second round last night? He’s performing like a man possessed! A man possessed by a very good ice skater! We’ll be catching up with the skater boy later this week. Have you got any Dancing On Ice questions for him? If so, leave them below. In the meantime, check out the interview we had with the boy wonder at the end of last week. He told us about his biggest fan…

So, the National Television Awards took place in the big smoke of London town on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, Bronagh Waugh (Cheryl) just missed out on the best newcomer accolade, but we’re sure our Bro will have plenty of awards coming her way in the not too distant future.

As per, the Hollyoaks cast kept its reputation as the best looking soap firmly intact, as Jenny Metcalfe (Mercedes) and Gemma Merna (Carmel) show in the photo above. For more pics of the night, check out Kieron Richardson (Ste)’s NTA Photo Diary. He managed to bag photies with, amongst others, Stephen Fry and some bloke off The Apprentice! Wow!

Talking of Kieron, he’s only gone and got himself in the second round of Dancing On Ice! I know! Well done him! He’ll be performing on Sunday’s show at 6.25pm on ITV1. Tune in and vote! In the meantime, read what he has to say about his second appearance. Teaser: He mentions Will Young.

We know what you guys and gals really love about Hollyoaks are the hard-hitting issue based storylines. Your love of the show has nothing to do with the hunka-hunka and the hubba-hubba boys and girls in the cast… but we’re sure it helps! So, as a special midweek treat, please feel free to take in the, er… delights of Jessica Fox (Nancy). You can see more Fox-y pics in this month’s Loaded Magazine, which is on sale now.

You want more photos of sexy Hollyoaks ladies, you say? Well, check out our latest gallery and your sordid desires will be fulfilled. Steph’s looking particularly fruity, it’s got to be said.

By the by, over the last week or so we’ve been asking you for your Kieron Richardson (Ste) questions. He’s answered them! Check out Kieron’s responses over hither.

Did you watch Dancing On Ice last night? If you did, you’ll know that Kieron Richardson - who plays Ste, the one time most evil man in Hollyoaks - backwards cross-over-ed into the second round of the ice skating extravaganza. Getting the second best score of the weekend, Kieron won over the judges and the general public with a display that was almost as dazzling as his electric pink outfit!

We interviewed the man of the moment before he wowed all and sundry. You can read his thoughts here! He told us of his nerves, befriending Gordon Ramsay and his dog's poorly eye. If you’ve got any Dancing On Ice questions for Kieron leave them in the comments box below and we’ll give you his answers on Friday.

In non-ice related news, you may have noticed that there’s a new video up on our website. It’s a plea on behalf of Hollyoaks from Bronagh Waugh (Cheryl). Watch it and make a difference…

Finally, this Sunday on ITV1 at 6:45pm, Kieron Richardson (who plays Ste, the bad lad turned good lad who may well turn bad again, but we’re not sure), will perform in the first round of Dancing On Ice. It’s got to be said that - unlike his character Ste - Kieron is one of the nicest people in the world ever, so please make sure you tune in and vote for him!

You can read all about Kieron’s thoughts about Dancing On Ice in this week’s Kieron catch-up interview. Kieron told us all about his nerves, how he’s befriended Gordon Ramsay and, erm, stuff about his dog's poorly eye. Aw! Read it now (or after you’ve finished digesting the rest of this blog… it’s YOUR choice)!

Have seen the Emma Rigby (Hannah) leaving video yet? Well, we’ve gone backstage as Emma recorded her farewell scenes. The cast say their teary goodbyes to her (or not so teary if you’re name’s Ashley Taylor Dawson and you play Darren Osborne). It’s oh so emotional (unless, once again, you’re name’s Ashley Taylor Dawson)! See it!

Have a good weekend y‘all!

P.S. VOTE KIERON!

Our Gemma Merna, who plays Carmel McQueen, is down in that there London today to back a bill that would ban under-18s from using sunbeds. The actress, who is known for her looks and year round tan, went under the camera (as pictured above) to highlight the hidden damage that sunbeds and overexposure to UV light can cause.

She said: “I started to use sunbeds once or twice a week with my friends when I was 15, but never realised the risks that I was putting my skin through just to get the perfect tan. Looking at these photos, I can see there are already signs of sun damage and I’m only 25! These pictures have convinced me for sure that I’ll never use a sunbed again.”

And from one Hollyoaksian blonde bombshell to another… The National Television Awards nominations have been revealed! Hollyoaks is up for best serial drama and Bronagh Waugh (Cheryl) has been nominated as best newcomer. Vote ‘Oaks! Go here to make your opinions heard!

What!? You want more Hollyblonde news? Ok then… We’ll have a backstage video with Emma Rigby (Hannah) on this here webbedy site by the end of tomorrow. Will that do you?

As we reported last week, a fair few Hollyoaks shoots had to be postponed due to the quite crazy weather conditions we’ve witnessed recently. While the snow wasn’t ideal for filming, it was a blimmin’ great opportunity for a photo shoot!

We’ve put together a gallery of John Pickard (Dom), Carley Stenson (Steph), ATD (Darren), Joel Goonan (Gaz) and Jessica “The Snow Fox” Fox (Nancy) larking around in the white stuff (by that we mean snow, obviously). So for pics of John wearing a flatcap and Carley getting a piggyback off ATD, you’ll be muchly advised to click here.

From snow to ice… Dancing On Ice that is! Kieron (bad boy Ste) featured on the Dancing On Ice launch show on Friday. He’ll be competitively dancing later this week. It goes without saying, we’ll be keeping you up to date with all his shenanigans in this here blog, so keep an eye out.

Snow? Ice? In these ever so cold climes you need a radiator warm you up! A Jeanie In The Radiator perhaps? No, we haven’t gone mad (not just yet), we’re just plugging Hollie-Jay Bowes (Michaela)’s new electro-pop band. Listen to them here!

Snowed in? Run out of Hollyoaks episodes to watch? Never fear! There’s always a Hollyoaks cast member on hand to relieve your boredom by starring in a reality TV programme! And this month the programme is ITV1’s Dancing On Ice. The cast member? Kieron Richardson (evil Ste).

You’ll be able to see a spandex-ed up Kieron on the Dancing On Ice launch show at 9pm tonight. Will he impress new judge Emma Bunton? Let’s blooming well hope so! Read all about Kieron’s hopes and fears for the ice extravaganza here.

And from a Hollyoaks bad lad to a pair of dearly departed Hollyoaks goodie two shoes…

… Matt Littler and Darren Jeffries (Max and OB) have been helping out the winners of the Smokefree North West Smoke & Mirrors short film competition. Exposing the negative tobacco industry practices, the three winning films featured Matt and Darren. One of the winning films even starred none other than the most delightful Carley Stenson (Steph). Check it out!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful… which is why we haven’t updated the Hollyoaks website much recently! If you’re an insidehollyoaks follower on Twitter, you’ll have noticed that it’s been snowing quite blimmin’ heavily at Hollyoaks HQ. Due to the adverse weather conditions we’ve had to postpone a number of shoots for a couple of reason:

1) The snow looks out of place in the March scenes we’re filming at the moment and, 2) well, the weather’s pretty dangerous. We’ve fallen on our backsides quite a few times today already!

In other news, the nominations for the 2010 National Television Awards have been revealed! Hollyoaks is nominated in the best serial drama category and Bronagh Waugh (Cheryl) is nominated as best newcomer. You know what to do! Get voting!

For most people Christmas holidays are now over (“boo” and a “hiss”!), but on the upside, Hollyoaks is now running as normal – every weekday on Channel 4 at 6.30pm! Anyway, us good folk at Hollyoaks HQ realise that you may have been too busy merrymaking over the festive period to watch the ‘Oaks, so, in short, this is what’s gone on recently:

Lydia tried to kill Zoe. Tried, but failed. She’s now in the slammer on charges of Sarah’s murder and attempted murder of Zoe. Zoe’s in hospital with a hole in her stomach and bowels, but other than that she’s fine… well, as fine as fine can be after nearly being killed by the same person who killed her best mate…

You can see behind the scenes pics of the incident that very nearly put Zoe in a grave right here. And you can also watch with your very own eyes the quite delectable Zoe talking about Lydia and stuff in this here video!

In less gloomy news, Fernando popped the question to Steph and, lo and behold, she accepted! Joy to the world and all it brings! Cheryl also thinks she’s getting married to Gilly! “Thinks” being the operative word…

If you’ve missed any episodes Hollyoaks recently, you can watch them over here, pet. Or you can read the episode recaps!