ITV/Shutterstock/Jonathan Hordle Share Add as preferred source on Google Add as preferred source on Google By Carena Crawford 20 Feb 2026, 13:02 By Carena Crawford 20 Feb 2026, 13:02 Iain MacLeod reveals major soap changes, but it leaves Emmerdale fans raging Not all change is good Corriedale Share Add as preferred source on Google Add as preferred source on Google By Carena Crawford 20 Feb 2026, 13:02 By Carena Crawford 20 Feb 2026, 13:02 The big boss of Emmerdale and Coronation Street, Iain MacLeod, has revealed he is making major changes to the soaps. But fans aren’t all that impressed with the news and have insisted he needs to focus his attention elsewhere instead. In a recent podcast interview with This is Media City creative director of continuing drama for ITV Iain issued an update to filming of the ITV soaps, including those special episodes we’re seeing so many of. Corriedale brought both soaps together in dramamtic fashion (Credit: ITV) Iain MacLeod on Emmerdale and Coronation Street changes After the success of Corriedale at the start of the year and the move to the soap power hour, Iain said he is keen to build on that. He wants to make sure both Corrie and Emmerdale don’t get left behind by the likes of Netflix. “If your mum’s now watching Squid Game on Netflix, you don’t want those viewers to then turn on Coronation Street or turn on Emmerdale, and it looks like a completely different century or genre even,” he said. So what that involves is visually upgrading the soaps. He admitted he wants a “consistent visual feel” between the two. article continues below Read all the latest spoilers “We’re updating all of our kit basically, in terms of cameras and post-production infrastructure and all the rest of it. “And yes, there may be some news around shifting from HD slightly upwards in terms of the resolution that we’re using,” adding, “we want to evolve our look so that it retains some of the cinematic flavours that we saw in Corriedale recently.” Iain also confirmed they were exploring more “micro dramas” and “vertical dramas” in a bid to engage a younger audience and drive them to watch the main soaps. “We’re exploring all kinds of options with that,” he said. He added: “The other one is, can we boil our 23 minute episodes down into a micro drama?” He concluded by saying: “So, we’re trying to remain all things to all people, trying to modernize, make it look and feel better, tell our stories in a modern way, and ultimately keep the shows where they are.” There have been a lot of special episodes of Emmerdale lately (Credit: ITV) Soap fans not all that happy! The changes Iain is suggesting to Emmerdale and Corrie have not gone down all that well with the viewers. They just want a good soap, with strong storylines instead of all the gimmicks. “Tampering with the format, then. The viewers HATE it. Do they EVER read their feedback? Stone deaf and useless,” argued one on social media. A second added: “Soaps don’t need to be bigger and better. Look where they started, that’s what [brought] success. Bring back the good old classic days, that’s what we need. Not to make things fancy and cinematic.” “Instead of Iain McLeod fannying around with the soaps, bringing in new toys, just go back to your roots. Tate trying to ruin everyone is so old now,” Declared a third. Another said: “Do not boil down the 23 min episodes. That is a terrible idea.” “The boiled-down, self-contained episodes are exactly what has my family going ‘I guess I’ll just let a few pile up’ or, for some, ‘guess I’ll skip that episode’. Defeats the purpose of this day-by-day structure that is unique to soap,” argued a fifth. It was summed up by one more: “That’ll kill Emmerdale. The whole concept of a soap is that it’s an ensemble.” We all just want our soaps to be good and watchable at the end of the day! Read more: Who’s leaving Emmerdale? All the cast exits, arrivals and returns Share Add as preferred source on Google Add as preferred source on Google Good to Know Share Add as preferred source on Google Add as preferred source on Google By Carena Crawford 20 Feb 2026, 13:02 By Carena Crawford 20 Feb 2026, 13:02 Next Story
