We bought our house 2 years ago and the front garden has a 'hedge' of big fuchsia plants that were overgrown, out of shape and top heavy. I decided I would "just" dig them out and plant new shrubs....I've probably spent about 50 hours since last Spring trying to get them out. They have roots everywhere criss-crossing and I'm getting nowhere. Actually that's wrong, I'm going backwards because my digging seems to be creating more growth from the roots that I've exposed 
.
So, I suppose my question is - what is the chance of me actually removing these roots to the point where I can plant new ones?
Or should I just prune them down to ground level and hope they grow back up in a slightly more deliberate-looking way?