Hollyoaks is a long running UK soap opera, set in a fictional town in Chester. Although Hollyoaks attracts a huge and diverse audience, this saucy soap opera seems to attract the younger generations and because of this, the show addresses a number of young and coming of age issues.

A creation from respected soap opera writer Phil Redmond, Hollyoaks was first broadcasted on Channel 4 in 1995 and immediately, it was apparent that the soap would be aimed at the younger audience, as most story lines, more so then, revolve around Hollyoaks Community College and chart music is played at the beginning of most episodes, cleverly blending in the lyrics with current story lines of the time.

Hollyoaks have tackled many difficult and upsetting issues, with one of the most recent and effective being Anorexia. Some months ago, Hollyoaks writers decided that character Hannah Ashworth played by Emma Rigby would be heavily involved in an Anorexia story line that they hope would change youngsters minds about self image.

After embarking on a difficult relationship with friend and on/off boyfriend John Paul, Hannah blamed her own self image when John Paul revealed he was gay. She was then shown taking part in a number of disturbing scenes after she got involved with a model friend Melissa who convinced her that not eating was the way to go. Hollyoaks received much fantastic and admirable praise after this story line and has since gained respect from newspapers and many government organisations.

Aside from difficult life issues, Hollyoaks is full of laughter, comical scenes and twists and turns that keep the story lines fresh. One of the youngest soaps on television, Hollyoaks certainly has a bright and successful future ahead of it.