Now, I don't watch Hollyoaks on any kind of regular basis, it's important you know that. But if you are the sort of person who gets up on a Sunday morning, it's hard not to stumble across short segments of its nine-hour omnibus edition as you desperately try and find something good on the telly. And the one thing I have noticed is that if you ever do catch a bit it's invariably full of characters (and more terrible actors) you've never seen before. It can be just a couple of weeks since you last saw a bit, and yet everyone seems to have changed.
But there has been one continuing and therefore slightly comforting feature of da Oaks throughout its history - and that's the presence of Max and OB, the latter the only consistently good character in the programme, not that that's saying much. But, I've just been told they both left the show back in June, so not even they appear anymore. Which is possibly why those bits I've channel hopped over in recent months have look even less familiar than normal. Max, I think, was killed off. OB survived, and even escaped. Lucky him.
Anyway, this is a very long winded way of telling you that the actors who played Max and OB - Matt Littler and Darren Jeffries - have been given a show on Liverpool radio station Radio City (Hollyoaks, of course, despite being set in Chester, is mainly filmed in Liverpool). They will present the station's Sunday afternoon 'Entertainment City' show throughout December while regular presenter Rick Vaughn is away living the rock n roll lifestyle and, erm, doing panto in Soutport.
Confirming the Max and OB show, Radio City Programme Controller Euan McMorrow told reporters: "Matt and Darren will be a fantastic addition to our line up. They are a lively pair with a great chemistry that has been proven on screen and will work wonders on air. And with their celebrity contacts, the showbiz section of the show will be jam packed!"
I'm not sure the bloke who plays Tony in Hollyoaks counts as celebrity, and given his comments on the soap I don't expect former co-star James Corden will be on their friends list. Still, I find it comforting to know the Max and OB partnership lives on.