Doom-mongers will say that the soap genre is on its last legs, pushed from the interest of the nation by the likes of Netflix and Amazon TV, and dominated by ratings juggernauts like The Traitors.
Corriedale – a genius mash-up between our favourite characters from Coronation Street and Emmerdale – was out to prove them wrong. They achieved their goal – and then some.
If you’d have accidentally tuned in, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d wandered upon an action thriller of sorts. The cinematic visuals, the stunt work and the tragedy-laced acting really allowed the teams to up their game.
Twists came thick and fast from the death of Billy the vicar and Victoria becoming a killer, right through to the mammoth and jaw-dropping reveal that supposedly deceased Graham is not as dead as we have been led to believe for six years.
I’m not sure exactly how Emmerdale will manage to explain that one given the sight of his corpse is still etched in my mind, but I am assured they have a plan that works.
While often a little hard to see due to the low lighting – scenes in the woodland especially were a strain to follow – the main takeaway was how smoothly the two sets of characters blended together.
‘Who are you!?’ Emmerdale’s Cain demanded of Corrie’s Asha gave me the ‘uh oh’ feeling that this was going to be jarring.
Within five minutes – and casts of both soaps carrying a crashed car together – I actually forgot I was watching two different soaps.
But the similarity which stuck with me the most was how vital and how very soap-like that two LGBTQ+ storylines were carrying the entire story. It’s a representation of what these shows do best and is absolutely a win for the viewers that soaps to give airtime to the community. If only they weren’t all such terrible drivers…
And then there’s genius moments of comedy that we were treated to.
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Steve McDonald recognising Jai Sharma as someone who he used to work with was divine. Fact fans, Jai’s actor Chris Bisson was previously in Corrie, playing Steve’s business partner Vikram. It was a lovely touch that provided relief from all the death and destruction for a bit.
Longest standing characters Ken Barlow and Eric Pollard uniting over a faulty snack machine was an iconic moment for all soap fans.
The flirting between Carla and Charity – two fan favourites – was electric, and I am hoping Carla takes Charity up on her offer to visit the Woolpack. And Chas’ cab ride with Tim was a lovely, grounded way to end the episode, paying homage to the plane crash of 1993.
Tim’s expectation that Chas would never have heard of Coronation Street was the perfect way to end the episode, giving us all a reminder of just how big Corrie is to the viewing public.
In fact, if I had any complaint, I would have liked more of the character driven moments. Given Corriedale has picked up nearly 5 million viewers, a soap high of over three years, bosses may reconsider their claim that it will never happen again.
There are still so many character relationship possibilities to explore – what happens when Tracy Barlow comes face to face with the notorious Kim Tate? Moira, Rhona and Laurel joining the ladies of Corrie for a girls night out. Or simply two characters playing top trumps over how many deadly disasters they have been hit with.
‘Boat explosion? Pffft. We’ve had two tram crashes, mate.’
More than anything, the water cooler moments created and the TV event feel of fans up and down the country sitting down to witness the spectacle has shot down any worries about the future of soap.
They are still able to excite, intrigue and make us laugh, and Corriedale proves this will be the case for many years to come.
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