The executive producer behind two of Britain's biggest soaps has admitted to feeling the pressure ahead of a groundbreaking crossover event, thanks to a daring, last-minute audience vote.
Live Vote Adds Real-Time Drama
Iain MacLeod, the boss of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale, has confessed that a planned, eleventh-hour alteration to the highly anticipated 'Corriedale' crossover episode is making him deeply nervous. The special hour-long episode, which airs on Monday 5 January at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX, will see characters from both iconic serials collide in a dramatic storyline featuring a deadly crash stunt.
The source of MacLeod's anxiety is a unique interactive element. In a move never before attempted on British soaps on this scale, viewers have been given the power to choose an additional scene that will be inserted into the finished episode. An online poll has whittled down the options to four specific character pairings, each featuring one star from Weatherfield and one from the Dales.
The Four Contending Duos
The vote, however, closes with nail-biting timing. Fans have until just 15 minutes before the 8pm transmission to cast their final vote. This leaves MacLeod and his team with almost no time to prepare the chosen scene for broadcast.
"I will be in the transmission suite on the night going, 'play that one. Hopefully that's the right one,'" MacLeod revealed. "And I'm already feeling a little sweaty about that to be honest."
The four potential pairings, each with a pre-filmed scene ready to go, are:
- Roy Cropper and Nicola King – dubbed the 'Cafe Supremos'.
- Kirk Sutherland and Sam Dingle – a pairing actor James Houghton humorously described as "the meeting of two brain cells".
- Carla Connor and Charity Dingle – a combination MacLeod predicts will generate "a lot of noise" if selected.
- Tracy Barlow and Ross Barton – described as "two appallingly flirtatious people unable to avoid flirting with each other".
A Race Against the Clock
MacLeod explained that the production team wrote and filmed a scene for all four pairings based on initial viewer suggestions. While he hopes all scenes will be viewable to fans eventually, only the audience's chosen one will make the final cut of the Corriedale episode.
The exact point in the episode where the voted scene will be slotted in remains a closely guarded secret. "We designed it so that there's a juncture where it can feature," MacLeod stated, refusing to give further details.
This high-stakes, real-time addition marks a bold experiment in live television production for ITV's flagship soaps. It promises to make the January 5th broadcast an unmissable event for soap fans, who will directly influence the narrative they see on screen.
