Exclusive: Hollyoaks star Alex Fletcher reveals lasting friendships from show

Former Hollyoaks star Alex Fletcher has revealed which of her cast friendships have lasted, after exiting the soap earlier this year.

Alex's character Diane Hutchinson passed away this May, following a battle with ovarian cancer. The decision to kill the character off came after Alex made the choice to leave the soap to pursue other opportunities after 16 years, and wanted to close the door on her character for good.

Speaking exclusively to us at Inside Soap, Alex explained that she still keeps in touch with multiple cast mates, and praised the show for providing her with lifelong friendships.

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'Kirsty-Leigh Porter [Leela] and Jess Fox [Nancy] were my rocks those last few months,' Alex explains. "The story was dead sad, but we tried to find the joy in the scenes with those girls. I’ve come away from Hollyoaks with firm friends and we keep in touch a lot."

At this year's Inside Soap Awards, Alex was awarded the Outstanding Achievement prize, both for her time on Hollyoaks and her previous role on Brookside as Jacqui Dixon, which she began at the tender age of 14.

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"Honest to god, I could break down sobbing clutching my little trophy!" Alex said on the night of the ceremony. "[Executive producer] Hannah [Cheers] said some lovely things, she knows I’ve worked hard, especially on Diane’s last storyline. We have such a good relationship and I’ve got a real appreciation for what she does, you’ve got to be really on board and committed on a show like Hollyoaks.

"I’m so thrilled, I couldn’t speak when I found out the news – and tried not to cry so my make-up didn’t run!"

Read the full interview with Alex in this week's Inside Soap magazine, out now.

Hollyoaks airs on Mondays-Wednesdays with its Channel 4 streaming premiere at 7am, then an E4 broadcast the same night at 7pm. Full episodes are also released on YouTube a week after their Channel 4 release.

Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.

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