Cop26 climate summit: EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks among soaps joining forces to highlight environmental issues

The UK’s most popular soaps are joining forces in a major crossover event aimed at highlighting environmental issues ahead of next month’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Holby City, Hollyoaks, Casualty and Doctors have all filmed special scenes to cover different aspects of climate change, which will air in the first week of November

Five of the soaps will refer to each other, with characters making cameo appearances in rival series, and episodes featuring “nods” to scenes elsewhere, prompting debate among characters.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The drama begins on Monday November 1, the same week as world leaders are due to come together in Glasgow.

EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Casualty, Doctors and Holby City have filmed scenes highlighting environmental issues ahead of the Cop26 climate summit.EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Casualty, Doctors and Holby City have filmed scenes highlighting environmental issues ahead of the Cop26 climate summit.
EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Casualty, Doctors and Holby City have filmed scenes highlighting environmental issues ahead of the Cop26 climate summit.

The landmark event will see a Hollyoaks character appear in EastEnders’ fictional borough of Walford, while villagers in the Chester soap will learn about events at Holby City.

Read More
Nicola Sturgeon set to give TED Talk ahead of COP26

A social media video featuring two of Emmerdale’s residents will be shown to Coronation Street characters, while one of the stars of BBC One’s Doctors will appear on the cobbles in Weatherfield.

Casualty will also be discussed in The Woolpack pub in Emmerdale, and a social media clip from Coronation Street will be chatted about in EastEnders’ Queen Vic.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Originally conceived by Emmerdale executive producer Jane Hudson, the crossover is the result of months of planning and meetings between the respective soaps.

Each scriptwriting team took on the challenge of featuring the other shows in their own storylines.

Hudson, on behalf of Emmerdale and ITV Studios, 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.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“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, said: “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.”

More details of the content within each soap will follow.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.