The Hollyoaks train crash cast
Bryan Kirkwood has said he is "very, very proud" of his Hollyoaks cast.
The showrunner has paid tribute to the actors ahead of this week's shocking scenes on Channel 4, seeing the wedding of Porsche McQueen and Lockie Campbell derailed in a party train stunt.
Bryan said at a screening for the episodes: "I'm so proud of this cast. I'm well aware of how our show can occasionally be put down in really lazy, out-of-date ways, but I think our turns are fantastic.
"Our performances are shoulder-to-shoulder with every other show on TV. I'm very, very proud of every one of them."
He was particularly happy that the cast were willing to get down and dirty, doing their own stunts, and getting to crash the train for real, because it felt more realistic than it would have done if CGI technology was used to complete the scenes.
"It's quite easy to go for CGI and much more difficult to do it for real, but I think the results are clear on screen. We have a fantastic post-production house at Lime. I think we've got the best in-house graphics department - certainly in soap, but I think in TV. They certainly help with some episodes, but I think it's definitely better to do it for real."
The producer does admit however that the backstage team initially thought he was going "too far" with his vision and plans, but was thrilled when they brought it to life.
"We've got an exceptional designer at Hollyoaks called Julian Perkins, who's worked with me for eight years. When I said, 'Julian, can we crash a train?', I thought he was going to punch me in the face!
"He did say, 'I think we're going too far, I don't think we're going to achieve what you want to achieve on this budget'. But he did - and he absolutely over-delivered again, so it's absolute credit to him for being such a genius."
'Hollyoaks' airs weeknights on Channel 4 at 6.30pm, with first-look episodes at 7pm on E4.
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