Hollyoaks legend Nick Pickard confirms how long the Channel 4 soap will last

Hollyoaks star Nick Pickard has revealed the future of the soap as he prepares to enter the I’m A Celebrity jungle.

The actor, 48, who has played Tony Hutchinson since the soap first aired in 1995, is flying the Hollyoaks flag alongside politician Nigel Farage and This Morning host Josie Gibson.

For those wondering whether Nick will be returning to the soap once he’s left Australia, the star has got some good news.

Ahead of Sunday’s I’m A Celeb launch, he said: ‘This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and as soon as I was approached, I said yes. I am not quitting Hollyoaks to take part. My bosses have been really supportive of me doing it.’

And even more positively, we won’t actually see the icon leave our screens as recent filming has allowed him to get a fair few upcoming episodes in the bag, a source confirmed to Metro.co.uk.

This comes after Channel 4 confirmed a big change to its schedule, one of which includes the removal of Hollyoaks from its channel.

In 2023 64% of viewers watched the soap via streaming or E4, resulting in 556 million minutes of the show being streamed in the first half of the year.

Speaking about the shake-up, Nick added: ‘It’s all about if the money’s still coming in and we’ve been told that we definitely go on until at least the 30th anniversary so that’s as far as I know.’

‘I’m only contracted year to year anyway. So I’ve always taken each year as it comes and like every there’s a few of us in the cast and every time we get a contract we go out and have a little drink and say it’s another year in the sunshine.’

Channel 4’s Chief Content Officer, Ian Katz told Metro.co.uk: ‘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.’

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