Hollyoaks has announced details of two new characters moving into the village later this week.

The newcomers arrive following a mass exodus from the soap, which has seen regular characters Sylver (David Tag), Marnie (Lysette Anthony), Celeste (Andrea Ali), Toby (Bobby Gordon), Trish (Denise Welch) and Cher (Bethannie Hare) all leave in the last few weeks.

The first new character is Zoe, played by Garcia Brown, who is the granddaughter of Pearl (Dawn Hope) and the village's newest detective following the demotion of Saul (Chris Charles) to a police officer.

Zoe is described as "energetic, vivacious and headstrong" who loves to party and quickly strikes up friendships with Theresa (Jorgie Porter), Cleo (Nadine Mulkerrin) and Verity (Eva O'Hara).

"Joining the Hollyoaks family has been super exhilarating," said Brown. "I didn't know what to expect coming into the show but I felt right at home the moment I got here, and I'm super excited for what's in store. There's more than meets the eye to my character Zoe – she has a lot of exciting moments on screen!"

Also joining the cast is Jonas Khan as Zain Rizwaan, the local Imam who comes to the aid of the Maaliks after Imran (Ijaz Rana) loses his faith.

Zain quickly settles into the role of agony uncle for the villagers and sparks up a romantic connection with Misbah (Harvey Virdi).

"I'm very excited to be joining a progressive TV show such as Hollyoaks, a programme that always looks to push boundaries," said Khan. "Zain will look to bring some spirituality and guidance to the Maalik family and rest of the village."

Both Zoe and Zain will make their debuts in this Friday's first-look episode of Hollyoaks on E4 at 7pm.