Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Hollyoaks has sparked timeline confusion among fans after Zoe Anderson gave birth on the soap this week.
Viewers will remember that Zoe slept with late partner Hunter McQueen’s brother Prince back in May, the time of conception meaning that her baby wouldn’t be due until February.
However, in a streaming episode on Wednesday (August 21), Zoe unexpectedly gave birth, the character claiming that she was three months premature.
Related: 14 huge Hollyoaks spoilers for next week
Yet the timeline of conception would mean she is actually six months premature – a fact that was not lost on viewers.
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“Zoe is 6 months premature not 3. God sake this show,” one viewer wrote, while another questioned: “Zoe is six months pregnant? Didn't she sleep with Prince back in May - like, three months ago?”
“I haven’t watched Oaks regularly but no way is Zoe that far gone already!” a third added.
Related: Hollyoaks viewers upset over Channel 4 streaming crash
While some have suggested a timeline error, it could be that the soap is moving events forward slightly ahead of its big one-year time jump next month.
The big change was confirmed back in March, as the show adapts to job cuts and being reduced from five episodes to three from September.
“When we started talking about the move to three episodes a week, we realised we needed a mechanism through which to transition our stories and characters and we kept coming back to this one," executive producer Hannah Cheers explained.
“It’s bold, daring and is a first for a UK soap. It sums Hollyoaks up perfectly.
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“The new three-episode pattern offers us a different model of storytelling, which means we’ll see characters on screen for much longer. Our viewers are really smart. In order to serve them well, we need to kick off this new structure in a meaningful way.
“Fast-forwarding the show permanently by a year presents us with unlimited story possibilities. We are now a streaming-first soap and can lean into less-restricting and conventional structures.”
Hollyoaks streams first online via Channel 4 each weekday at 7.30pm. Episodes then air on E4 the following day, before getting their YouTube premiere a week after that.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
