A Hollyoaks character will appear in EastEnders and two Emmerdale residents will be shown in Coronation Street as part of a landmark crossover of continuing dramas to highlight the issue of climate change.
Casualty, Coronation Street, Doctors, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Holby City and Hollyoaks will all feature scenes covering or referencing aspects of climate change in the week commencing November 1st.
This is the same week that the COP26 conference on the climate crisis will be held in Glasgow, bringing together world leaders.
What’s more, five of the series will actually cross over with one another in a first for all the soaps. A figure from Hollyoaks will be appearing in EastEnders’ Walford, events from Holby City will be referenced in Hollyoaks, a social video with Emmerdale characters will be shown in Weatherfield, and a character from BBC’s Doctors will be in Coronation Street, among others.
It is the result of months of planning and discussion between writers and editorial teams on all the serial dramas, with the original idea coming from Executive Producer of Emmerdale, Jane Hudson.
Speaking on behalf of Emmerdale and ITV Studios, Hudson said: “Never before have all five soaps and both continuing dramas come together and united in telling one story. And we certainly haven’t seen characters pop up in other shows before. This is a real treat for our audience, whilst also allowing us to get across a very important message.”
Kate Oates, Head of Continuing Drama at BBC Studios, added: “I’m thrilled that our soaps and serial dramas have all come together to help highlight the issue of climate change amongst our millions of viewers.
“We’re grateful to the teams that made this happen, and hugely look forward to seeing the talent from our own shows popping up in other iconic programmes.”
