‘The way TV is going at the moment – we are fighting for viewers’
Emmerdale Chas Dingle star Lucy Pargeter at the Corriedale launch(Image: Gerard Binks)
An Emmerdale legend has opened up on the challenges soap operas face in 2026 as she previewed the upcoming Corriedale crossover.
Lucy Pargeter, who plays Chas in Emmerdale, provided a temperature check for British soaps while appearing at the Corriedale red carpet launch in Bradford. Corriedale will air on Monday, January 5 at 8pm on ITV1.
A multi-vehicle pile-up will be at the centre of the drama that sees the worlds of Coronation Street and Emmerdale collide for one night only.
Fan favourite characters from both soaps will appear in the episode – 2026 is sure to be a big year for Emmerdale with Corriedale at the forefront of it. The special edition will launch ITV’s new ‘soap power hour’ scheduling pattern for Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
At the start of 2026, fans will see the ‘soap power hour’ begin on ITV with episodes of their legendary soap operas airing Monday to Friday. This now means 30 minute Emmerdale episodes will air at 8pm and 30 minute Coronation Street episodes at 8.30pm. Episodes will continue to drop at 7am on ITVX – before transmission that evening.
Discussing the Corriedale crossover, Lucy explained: “We’ve done lives, we’ve done stunts, we’ve done everything. The way TV is going at the moment, we are fighting for viewers – all the soaps are. The viewers are getting less, people are watching on download and people are watching on catch up. So, I think we needed to do something to keep the audience there.
“Because they are so close geographically, it doesn’t not make sense for them to, at some point, come into contact with each other. And, I think it is a really nice way to introduce the audience. Although, we share the same viewers, I think it really nice to see that intermingling and I wouldn’t put it past ITV to do a little more which would be fun.
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“I’ll go and get a job in The Rovers – we’ll swap jobs. I think there is scope to carry on.”
We’ll have to see whether we may get more Corriedale after the January 2026 debut.
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