‘What on earth is this?’. That was the reaction of Coronation Street icon Alison King when she first laid eyes on the script for the historic ‘Corriedale‘ crossover.
Joining a star-studded panel hosted by Rishi Davda, Alison described the episode as having ‘no words’ because it is simply ‘one thing after the other’.
Despite the high stakes, Alison revealed her relief at the final outcome for her character, Carla Connor, joking: ‘I’m not even maimed’. However, she was quick to praise director Duncan Foster for keeping the ship steady.
‘We knew as soon as Duncan was in charge, he just made every frame-by-frame work, and he’s cool. Cool as a cucumber.’
Jack P. Shepherd is no stranger to stunts, but he admitted to being impressed by the scale of the collisions. ‘You were right there straight away, seeing all these cars collide and everything, and yeah, I think it looked right’.
In a cheeky nod to the rivalry between the two shows, Jack added: ‘All the years that we’ve watched Emmerdale stunts, they’ve always gone down in history as being better than ours, so it was nice to finally work with them, so that they could show us exactly how to do it’.
Danny Miller shared his excitement about welcoming the Coronation Street team to familiar ground. ‘Bringing them over to Yorkshire, where the majority of the Corriedale ep was filmed, it was nice’, Danny noted, adding that ‘it didn’t feel like they were coming to our turf’ because everyone was on location together.
Danny also injected some humour into the panel, joking that the biggest surprise about working with the Corrie crew was wondering, ‘did they get free toast?’. However, not every fan is convinced yet; the actor also recounted a funny interaction at an M62 service station where an HGV driver told him, ‘I don’t think it’s going to work’.
Corriedale Director Duncan Foster revealed the grueling logistics behind the special, confirming the team filmed for ’14 nights in total’. While they were ‘blessed with the weather’ for the major stunts, the final scene provided the most tension.
‘I remember standing in this field at 4am, I couldn’t feel my feet, it was cold. I just wanted to get the sunrise for the end’ Foster recalled. Creative Director Iain MacLeod jokingly added that if Duncan hadn’t captured that specific shot, ‘He’s fired’.
For Emma Atkins, the crossover provided a moment she can’t wait to tell her family about: sharing the screen with Bill Roache (Ken Barlow) and Chris Chittell (Eric Pollard).
‘I haven’t told my mum yet, but she’ll be so excited about that, because it is this gold-soaked moment’ Emma shared. Duncan Foster insisted on giving that specific meeting the weight it deserved: ‘This is such an iconic moment. We have to give it every single second of television that we can give it’.
While fans might be hoping for a permanent merger, Ian MacLeod confirmed this is a unique celebration to launch the new ‘Soap Power Hour’ on ITVX.
‘Corriedale was the logical choice’ for the name, Iain explained, admitting he is ‘incredibly proud of it, really, to an almost embarrassing extent’.
When asked to describe the event in just one word, the panel found it impossible to be brief:
Emma Atkins: ‘Genius cross-pollination’.
Jack P. Shepherd: ‘Explosive, hairy, destruction’.
Duncan Foster: ‘An incredible experience’.
From January, Coronation Street will air Monday – Friday on ITV1. For classic visits to Corrie, these episodes air weekdays on ITV3 as well as on YouTube.
Corriedale airs 5 January 2026 at 8pm on ITV1