Corriedale boss Iain MacLeod has revealed a last-minute twist to a special element of the crossover. The interactive vote will decide which two characters will share the screen during the episode, as suggested by the viewers.
Last year, fans were encouraged to put forward their dream duos from Coronation Street and Emmerdale, which were then shortlisted into four pairings. All four scenes were written and filmed, with the winning duo yet to be confirmed.
“Starting in January, there’ll be an online poll, which is free of charge, so it’s just a bit of fun, and for me, quite a lot of stress! But it’s just a bit of fun, and you can vote for which of these four pairings you’d like to see in the finished episode,” MacLeod told Digital Spy and other media at a press screening of Corriedale.
“Voting closes 15 minutes before transmission. I will be in the transmission suite on the night going, ‘Play that one! Hopefully that’s the right one!'” he added. “I’m already feeling a little sweaty about that, to be honest.”
MacLeod, who serves as executive producer for continuing drama at ITV Studios, shared how the scene would slot into the episode, despite not knowing which one will air.
ITV
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“We’ve designed it so that there’s a juncture where it can feature and I’m not telling you where it is at this point!” he explained.
As for the scenes that aren’t chosen tomorrow night – the team’s hard work won’t go to waste. MacLeod revealed that they will probably release the other three clips later down the line for fans view at their own leisure.
ITV
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“They’re all individually brilliant scenes. They’re in the can. They’re ready to go. We’ll find some avenue for you to see all of them at some point, I’m sure,” he said. “But in terms of what goes in the episode, the final version of Corriedale to be enshrined for posterity, that will be up to the audience.”
He continued: “We have Roy [Cropper] and Nicola [King] – cafe supremos, the pair of them. We have Kirk [Sutherland] and Sam [Dingle], which actor James Hooton [who plays Sam] described as the meeting of two brain cells!
“We have Carla [Connor] and Charity [Dingle], which certainly there’ll be a lot of noise around, if that ends up being the one that is successful. Then there’s Ross [Barton] and Tracy [Barlow], which is… they’re all excellent, but Ross and Tracy’s very sparky. It’s two appallingly flirtatious people unable to avoid sort of hating slash flirting with each other.”
Corriedale airs on Monday 5 January at 8pm on ITV1 and will stream on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street and Emmerdale spoilers on our dedicated homepages.
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