ITV soaps make history as Emmerdale and Coronation Street join forces for the first time
ITV has announced a historic crossover episode between its beloved soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale, set to air in January 2026.
The unprecedented hour-long special will bring together the residents of Weatherfield and the Dales for the first time in a fully integrated storyline.
The landmark episode will kick off the new year for both shows and marks a significant moment in British soap history.
Producers promise the crossover will be action-packed and largely self-contained, yet have lasting implications for both communities.
The occasion will be marked by “an ambitious stunt” that will have “everlasting consequences for everyone involved”, according to producers.
The drama will link the two communities forever, as familiar faces depart and new arrivals stir the pot.
ITV says the two shows’ universes in Manchester and Yorkshire have been linked in an “ingenious way”.
In an interactive twist, fans will get to shape the plot of the upcoming crossover by voting for which characters they want to see meet.
Soap enthusiasts can choose one character from each show that they would like to see interact.
Details of how viewers can influence the story will be shared next month on both soaps’ social media pages.
The BBC previously used a similar approach with EastEnders during its 30th anniversary, when fans chose whether Denise Fox would reunite with her husband Jack Branning or her secret lover Ravi Gulati.
The crossover coincides with a new scheduling pattern for ITV’s soaps, with research showing 30-minute episodes attracted higher audiences in 2024.
From 2026, Emmerdale will air at 8pm followed by Coronation Street at 8:30pm, both in half-hour formats.
Currently, Coronation Street airs three hour-long episodes weekly, while Emmerdale broadcasts four 30-minute episodes plus one hour-long instalment.
Kevin Lygo, ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment, explained: “The new commissioning pattern is viewer-led. We believe this is the right amount of episodes that fans can fit into their viewing schedule.”
The move is not the first time British soaps have crossed over, but it is the first of this scale between ITV’s flagship programmes.
In 2010, Children in Need aired a charity crossover between EastEnders and Coronation Street, titled East Street.
More recently, in November 2021, a week-long series of soap crossovers included Casualty, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Coronation Street, Doctors and Holby City.
That initiative aimed to draw attention to climate change ahead of the COP26 conference.
The 2021 crossover only featured Coronation Street characters watching a social media video with Emmerdale residents.
Fans will be able to vote for their preferred character pairings from next month via Instagram, Facebook and TikTok accounts for both soaps.
The crossover episode promises to deliver “a much more tangled drama between ITV’s most beloved soap stars” than previous interactions.