Coronation Street and Emmerdale fans have been on edge waiting to find out who lives and who dies as worlds collide in ITV’s first soap crossover Corriedale tonight, and David Platt star Jack P Shepherd has seen this as the perfect opportunity for some trolling.
During an interview on Good Morning Britain to discuss Corriedale, hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls were keen to know who decides which characters are set to meet their maker.
Ever the joker, Jack remained straight-faced as he explained that it is the producers and executives that ultimately make that decision, before veering off into an answer that had Susanna and Ed’s jaws on the floor.
‘My number’s come up,’ the soap stalwart teased. ‘I’ve done 25 years. It would have been great to see the rest of 2026 but sadly tonight is the end.’
He continued the ruse by quickly backtracking, asking: ‘Have I given too much away there? I have, haven’t I?
In a panic, Susanna asked if that was true, to which he immediately answered ‘No,’ and burst out laughing, much to the presenters’ relief, and surely that of ITV bosses.
It has already been reported that Jack has signed another contract to keep him on the cobbles for a further year – but he certainly had our hearts racing.
All of this suggests that David is set to survive the epic multi-car pile-up that leaves countless lives in danger in tonight’s Corriedale special – but could Jack be double-bluffing?
We’ve seen from the Corriedale trailer that Shona Platt (Julia Goulding) is screaming in the hospital while being comforted by Emmerdale’s Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins).
Metro readers were quick to react to this on TikTok, with one saying ‘Sadly I think David Platt will die’.
Others refused to accept the possibility, saying: ‘David will be on Corrie until he is in his 90s like Ken Barlow.’
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‘They cannot kill David Platt surely,’ another pleaded.
We know that Shona is heavily pregnant, and her baby needs a risky surgery before it is born – something that Shona and David have disagreed on, as it would put both Shona and the baby’s life at risk.
Could her scream have something to do with the baby – or is David really set to meet a grisly fate? Could Jack be lulling us into a false sense of security?
Of course, David isn’t the only character at risk, with countless storylines from both soaps culminating in this spectacular stunt. It’s a lot to catch up on, especially if you’re not a regular Corrie or Emmerdale viewer.
Fortunately, Chris Bisson, who plays Jai Sharma in Emmerdale, revealed that ITV have prepared for that – and it came as a big help for him, as someone who admits he has no idea what’s going on in Corrie.
‘I was sat around last night last night binge-watching Coronation Street and a little bit of Emmerdale, because when I saw the hour of Corriedale, I didn’t really know what was going on, and what the characters were doing,’ he confessed.
‘But episodes of Emmerdale and Coronation Street have dropped on ITVX this morning, and they have a recap of the storylines, so if you haven’t got time to binge-watch all the build-up to it, you can watch the recap on those two episodes.’
And if you want a slightly more detailed explanation of what’s been going on in both soaps, you can head over to the Metro Soaps TikTok page, where I have broken down everything you need to know in the lead-up to Corriedale in two handy videos.
Though Jack insisted that you ‘don’t need to know anything’ beyond what happens in tonight’s episodes, which air from 7pm on ITV1, and are already available to watch on ITVX, Chris argued the opposite.
‘It’s important that you know what’s going on in the stories though, in each of the different soaps, because we had a premiere of the Corriedale episode, and I didn’t have a clue what was going on with the Corrie cast and what the characters were doing and and why and who was being mean to who. So, it is important that you catch up with both, and it will be a brilliant watch.’
We have to agree with Chris on this one.
Coronation Street fans may actually already recognise the Emmerdale star, as he was once a regular face on the cobbles.
Before taking on the role of Jai Sharma in 2009, Chris played Corrie’s Vikram Desai, who co-founded Streetcars with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson). He was a mainstay on the Manchester-based soap from 1999 until 2002.
‘It was a bit tricky for me in the crossover because I couldn’t cross with a lot of the Coronation Street characters, so I’m only in a teeny bit,’ Chris told Metro when we caught up with him at the Corriedale premiere.
‘Some people worked really hard on it. I didn’t have to do too many night shoots. Some people were on night shoots for weeks on end until 5 o’clock in the morning. I only had a couple so I got away lightly, really. But it was really great to be on set with some of my old Corrie colleagues as well.’
He echoed that to the Good Morning Britain hosts, while explaining what’s ahead for Jai: ‘I’m only a small part of tonight’s episode, because I couldn’t cross with some of the Coronation Street characters because they’d recognise me, because I used to work here.
‘But what I can say is that there is a nod to the fact I was on Coronation Street, and even though it’s a very small part, what I reveal tonight will kick off a massive storyline for Emmerdale going forward.’
Sounds intriguing, and certainly worth a watch…
