A decade of frustration on a busy motorway that runs near Bradford has inspired one of the most ambitious episodes in soap history.
ITV’s new hour-long special, Corriedale, airing tonight, brings together characters from Coronation Street and Emmerdale for the first time in a dramatic storyline born from Executive Producer Iain MacLeod’s “dislike” of the M62.
The crossover episode sees a multiple-vehicle crash intertwining the lives of Weatherfield and the Yorkshire Dales. Viewers will watch Shona Platt (Julia Goulding), who is pregnant, being treated at the roadside alongside her husband David (Jack P Shepherd) and more than a dozen other familiar faces.
MacLeod, who became ITV’s Executive Producer for Continuing Drama early in 2024, says the idea came from years of commuting between Manchester and Leeds — and a little inspiration from Marvel.
“It started from my dislike of the M62 motorway between Manchester and Leeds, in all seriousness.
"I’d spent about the last 10 years stuck on the M62 between Manchester and Leeds, and Corrie is obviously very Manchester, and Emmerdale is very Yorkshire, very Leeds.
"And I thought: well, actually, why don’t we draw on my negative experiences of commuting and find some drama in that? And so it was born from many, many hours of me sitting in traffic on the M62.”
“I blame Marvel. They gave us the idea. ‘Well, hang on, if we’ve got all these superheroes, why not put them all in the same thing?’
"But also, I think it partly coincided with me taking over as the sole creative lead for both soaps. So I was then the decision-maker that was uniquely positioned to do that, whereas before, they’d operated slightly as separate entities.”
The special, airing at 8pm on ITVX, follows two regular episodes — Emmerdale at 7pm and Coronation Street at 7.30pm — and marks the launch of ITV’s new “soap power hour” scheduling pattern.
Filming the crossover was no small feat. Julia Goulding described the experience as “crazy,” recalling six weeks of night shoots and a major stunt sequence that left her feeling “like Lara Croft” as she hung from a harness during a dramatic minibus crash.
With explosive stunts, emotional twists, and a motorway backdrop that millions of commuters know all too well, Corriedale promises to be a landmark moment in soap history — all thanks to one man’s long-standing grudge against the M62.
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