ITV has responded to the claims Coronation Street and Emmerdale are going to merge.
Recently, rumours and comments started to circulate that both soaps could potentially work together. It was suggested that this could happen in Salford to cut production costs, but this will not be happening.
The response from the channel comes after former Director of Television Peter Fincham suggested that Emmerdale could move from Yorkshire.
He said that the soap would still be set there, but made in Manchester.
‘You’ve got Coronation Street being made in Manchester, Emmerdale in Leeds’, he said on the podcast Insiders: The TV Podcast with TV producer Jimmy Mulville.
‘Could you imagine, rather like the daytime daytime consolidation, that ITV will decide to have them both made in the same place under one umbrella? Big savings. It could be made in Manchester and Salford, which is a bigger hub for ITV.’
Responding to these claims, a spokesperson for ITV cleared everything up and told Metro: ‘ITV has no plans to merge the productions of Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
‘Both are uniquely set in Manchester and Leeds, and that production model will continue for the long term. It’s pure speculation to say otherwise.’
Coronation Street and Emmerdale will crossover next year, for one episode.
It was announced earlier this year that both serial dramas will air in what has been dubbed as a ‘power hour’ from 8pm, Monday to Friday. Ultimately it means that both shows will lose a half an hour episode per week.
This event is the first time that soap worlds have collided in an official capacity – though we have seen small crossovers for Children in Need and to highlight climate change in the past.
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Producers have confirmed that the episode will be marked in ‘spectacular style’, with production teams from Leeds and Trafford working together to achieve an ‘ambitious’ stunt’ that will have ‘everlasting consequences’ for the communities of Weatherfield and Emmerdale.
An ‘ingenious’ way of merging the two has been devised by those behind the scenes, although it’s understood that the characters will then return to their respective environments after the ep.
Forever linked together, familiar faces will depart while some fresh new faces will arrive in both soaps.
