Calvin Valentine in February 2011. In May 2006, it was announced former "Dream Team" actor Ricky Whittle would arrive in Hollyoaks as "mysterious" Calvin Valentine. Along with Whittle's casting, it was announced his former "Dream Team" co-star Jamie Lomas would take on the part of "bad boy" Warren Fox. Speaking of Lomas and Whittle's casting, a "Hollyoaks" spokesperson stated: "We're delighted to welcome Ricky and Jamie to the "Hollyoaks" cast. Their characters are set to bring lots of drama to the show!" In 2009, it was announced that Whittle had decided to leave the series after he quit to pursue other projects.
Soap opera opera parody programs "Echo Beach" premiered alongside its sister show, the comedy "Moving Wallpaper". Both "Echo Beach" and "The Royal Today" ended after just one series due to low ratings. Radio soap opera "Silver Street" debuted on the BBC Asian Network in 2004. Poor ratings and criticism of the program led to its cancellation in 2010. UK soap operas for many years usually only aired two nights a week. The exception was the original "Crossroads", which began as a weekdaily soap opera in the 1960s, but later had its number of weekly broadcasts reduced. Things started to change in 1989