Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Coronation Street’s producer Kate Brooks has defended the show’s increase in “special episodes” which stray from the traditional soap format. Corrie and fellow ITV soap Emmerdale have both been experimenting with their styles in recent years, sparking fan debate over whether the shows should stick to their roots.
Late last year, Corrie was praised for a powerful “behind closed doors” episode which explored Todd Grimshaw’s domestic abuse ordeal through the lens of various in-universe cameras, including CCTV and police bodycams. A special flashback episode also explored a dark secret from Maggie Driscoll’s past.
Looking ahead, the show will play with time again next month – as specially-filmed flashforward scenes tease a mystery death with five possible victims. However, some fans have argued online that the “special episodes” are becoming too frequent.
In a new interview, Brooks was asked whether the show has even more experimental episodes coming up beyond the flashforward.
ITV
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“I probably won’t be able to talk about them, but yes we do,” Brooks replied. “We do have episodes that feel special and different. They break the usual formula of soap and I think they’re a really interesting way of telling the story.
“We have a lot of episodes a year. We have a lot of our ‘traditional format’ episodes to appease the more traditional viewers. So I think when the story affords it, or when it lends itself to taking a more abstract and slightly less conventional approach, then we embrace it and we do it really well.
“We have a great team around us who work really hard to ensure that whilst the episode might feel different, it still feels very story-driven.”
ITV
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She continued: “If you take the recent Todd and Theo episode as an example, you can’t get more ‘kitchen sink drama’ than being in somebody’s living room watching them live their lives. That’s taking it right back to day dot.
“What we’ll continue to do going forward, is taking these big storylines that we have and try and tell them in fresh and innovative ways. Initially, people might not always love it, but I think it’s a risk that we should take.
“We continue to take it, because we need to keep abreast of the competition. We need to make sure that we stay relevant, fresh and new. So yes, there’ll be more of those types of episodes coming up.”
Another big Corrie change is the show’s scheduling pattern. From this week onwards, the show will air every weeknight at 8.30pm for 30 minutes. This is five episodes per week, while the previous hour-long editions created the equivalent of six weekly episodes.
ITV
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Brooks added: “The difference with the hour longs is that it’s an hour of drama to film, so you need every beat and every scene to feel interesting and move the story forward. When you’re doing that three times a week, that’s quite a lot to sustain.
“So I think the episodes will now naturally feel pacier. We’re able to play slightly more lighter textual stories, because it’s a couple of scenes, as opposed to four or five or six scenes over the course of an episode.
“There will definitely be more of a spread of characters as well, because we’re able to dip in and out of people’s stories and not be constrained by hour-long episodes.
“So, whilst the storytelling and the storylines that are currently running are not going to massively change, what will change is that the episodes will feel way more pacier – and will feel like how soap should really be.”
Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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