Hollyoaks is now the UK's most violent soap, says Ofcom

Hollyoaks has been named the UK's most violent soap by regulator Ofcom.

New research has found that the Channel 4 soap has overtaken EastEnders as the most violent, with viewers regarding such pre-watershed scenes as unacceptable.
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Walker fights back.
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BBC One's EastEnders was found to have dropped from 6.1 violent scenes per hour in 2001/02 to 2.1 per hour last year.

However, Hollyoaks has leapt from 2.1 to 11.5 violent scenes per hour in the same time frame.

Last year, Hollyoaks was rapped by Ofcom for airing a pre-watershed scene of Brendan pushing Walker under a train.

The soap also overtook ITV's Coronation Street, which stayed at 3 violent scenes per hour, while Emmerdale went up from 2.5 to 4 per hour.

"People considered the time of broadcast to be the single most important factor in determining the acceptability of violent content on TV," said Ofcom.
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Ronnie hits Carl over the head
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EastEnders

"Viewers were prepared to tolerate moderately violent scenes before the watershed; however, all agreed that strong scenes with a vulnerable victim were unacceptable before 9pm."

Research also found that pre-watershed scenes of violence are more likely to be acceptable between two men, rather children, a woman or the elderly.

A Channel 4 spokesman said: "We are committed to ensuring that all Hollyoaks storylines are appropriate for a pre-watershed audience.

"The portrayal of violence is appropriately limited and is shown within the context of long-running storylines – and programmes that include scenes which some people may find upsetting are clearly flagged to viewers at the beginning of the broadcast.

"Hollyoaks has a track record of tackling issues affecting its audience, and has worked alongside [the] government and leading charities on subjects such as domestic abuse and bullying."