An investigation conducted by a regional daily is set to form the basis of a storyline in soap opera Hollyoaks.

The Channel 4 soap was inspired by the Liverpool Echo’s probe into the discredited practice of gay conversion therapy, which it ran in 2017.

Josh Parry, who won Young Journalist of the Year at the Regional Press Awards in 2018 for his work on the investigation, has worked with the programme to produce the forthcoming storyline.

Josh subsequently left the Echo for the BBC and is now the corporation’s LGBT and identity producer.

Josh, centre, receives the Young Journalist prize from HTFP publisher Paul Linford, left, and Regional Press Awards host Nick Ferrari, right, in 2018

The 31-year-old told the Echo: “It’s been an honour to be asked to guide the team through this complex and sensitive storyline.

“As someone who has been through gay conversion therapy as an undercover reporter, I have experienced first-hand the misleading and often damaging claims made by so-called conversion therapists.

“I think Hollyoaks is the perfect platform to bring the reality of these practices to life so that the public can better understand them and the impact they can have.

“The team has put so much effort into making the storyline engaging and entertaining but above all accurate and realistic on what is an extremely emotive topic.”