THE arrival of two of television's hottest soap stars caused a big stir when they came to officially open Basingstoke's new HMV store.

David Brown and Ali Bastain, better known as Adam Morgan and Becca Hayton in the popular Channel 4 series Hollyoaks, came all the way from Chester on Tuesday to meet fans and sign autographs.

Hundreds of people packed into the store in Festival Place, which opened its doors to the public for the first time last Friday.

Handbags, mobile phones and body parts were just some of the places the two popular characters were asked to sign.

First in the queue of fans was 15-year-old Claire Giles, of Greenham, who had been waiting patiently for more than an hour to see the stars.

"It was really exciting to meet them," she said. "I'm a big Hollyoaks fan and really like Adam, so I got him to sign his picture in the Hollyoaks calendar."

The pair, who arrived about 45 minutes late, stayed at the store for two hours. For Ali, it was her first-ever public signing.

She said: "Because it was my first one I felt a bit nervous but it's been fun, and it's been nice because I'm quite near my home in Windsor."

The store's other special guest was Nipper, the famous HMV dog, and throughout the morning, 2-TEN FM's breakfast crew were running games and competitions and giving away loads of HMV goodie bags.

It was no surprise that sales of the new official Hollyoaks Babe and Hollyoaks Hunk calendar soared on the day.