Christmas is always one of the most notable time in the soap calendar and traditionally, as dictated by EastEnders historically, a time of death, murder and betrayal as opposed to goodwill to all men. However, while EastEnders usually ups the stakes for the biggest drama and twists, Coronation Street tends to be a little more mellow and festive and thats something that new boss Iain MacLeod doesnt plan to change.
When pressed on his plans for Christmas storylines, he was somewhat vague but revealed that there will be a big shock as well as plenty of Yuletide feeling. He explained: Well, the seeds of the stories for Christmas are planted in the big episodes in October, without giving too much away. I wanted it to be a Christmassy Christmas, obviously theres a history in soap of trying to go and do the Angie and Den Christmas where its all acrimony and divorce papers and vitriol.
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Thats not really my preference, when you sit down as you try and digest your stuffing balls and sprouts, you need it to be warm and light-hearted in places and you need it to reek of Christmas. So, itll be a Christmassy Christmas, itll have some big, heartbreaking stories within that, itll have a big shock at the end and hopefully itll be a surprising pay off to those stories that youve just seen the inception of here.
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It remains to be seen whether EastEnders inevitably macabre affair or Corries more festive offering will win over more viewers but iain admitted that he isnt too worried about the soap rivalry, even though his predecessor at Corrie, Kate Oates, is heading over to Walford.
He smiled: I already sent her a message on that score, jokingly saying “the gloves are off”. But, theres a healthy rivalry between all the soaps probably arguably more between Corrie and EastEnders. We plough our own furrow.
I dont see the shows as people particularly similar in terms of their style, visual feel and the types of stories they tell and so, I dont feel that theres too much overlap. Theres room in peoples lives for both. But, it will be a lot of fun, I suspect when the awards start rolling in and hopefully theyll roll in our direction I think therell be a bit of friendly banter between me and her.
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