In a British TV first, the nation’s soaps and continuing dramas have announced that they will join forces in an attempt to highlight the climate crisis.
Upcoming episodes of Casualty, Coronation Street, Doctors, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Holby City and Hollyoaks will each contain scenes that reference different aspects of climate change.
And in an even more ground-breaking move, each show will contain nods to one another, with some of the most iconic characters set to appear in their rival shows to discuss the issues that have been debated.
For example, a Hollyoaks character is set to appear in Walford, while a social media clip starring two of Emmerdale’s residents will be shown to Coronation Street characters and one of BBC One’s Doctors cast will appear on Coronation Street.
These episodes will all air in the week beginning Monday 1st November – to coincide with the COP26 conference in Glasgow, which will see World Leaders meet to discuss climate change action.
The idea was originally conceived by Emmerdale’s Executive Producer, Jane Hudson who has since been coordinating with her fellow executives to bring the plan together.
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.”
And Hollyoaks Executive Producer Lucy Allan said: “We know how important climate change and environmental issues are to our youthful audience, and to all soap viewers.
“It has been great to work together on an engaging way to hopefully inspire conversations about issues that are so important.”