‘BIG SAVINGS’ Emmerdale and Coronation Street facing major changes to cut costs, ex-soap boss warns
Recently there have been devastating cuts to daytime television at ITV
EMMERDALE could soon be filmed outside Yorkshire for the first time as part of a production merger with Coronation Street, according to one of the ITV1 soap’s former bosses.
Peter Fincham, the channel’s Director of Television before current boss Kevin Lygo, has revealed he believes that the soap could soon be moving to Manchester.
He has predicted that the recent devastating cuts to daytime television, and the loss of hundreds of jobs, would lead to executives looking at similar measures with their two biggest soaps, which are made in locations just 50 miles apart.
Talking on The TV Podcast, Peter said: “You’ve got Coronation Street being made in Manchester, Emmerdale in Leeds.
“Could you imagine, rather like the daytime consolidation, that ITV will decide to have them both made in the same place under one umbrella? Big savings.
“You still keep Emmerdale set in Yorkshire, but it could be made in Manchester and Salford, which is a bigger hub for ITV.
“I don’t think that’s inconceivable — it might be being planned as we speak.”
Merging the two shows in any way once seemed unthinkable, but recently ITV announced that it would air an episode next year where the soaps would have a joint storyline.
The news came around the same time ITV announced a merger of production between Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women, with the expected loss of more than 200 jobs behind the scenes.
Currently, Emmerdale is made just north of Leeds while Coronation Street is largely filmed at MediaCity in Salford, having previously been at the Granada Studios in Manchester for decades.
Peter continued: “The new hub for Coronation Street in Salford, it cost many, many millions of pounds and it was better facilities for all the people who worked on it in the old place in the middle of Manchester.”
A spokesperson for ITV hit back at Peter’s suggestion of a soap filming merge, saying: “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.”
