Weatherfield is set to be the hive of plenty of activity this Christmas with fun, bombshells and an emotional exit set to rock the Coronation Street this year.
The festive season is well and truly upon and it means there are just a mere few weeks to go until we see how our favourite cobbles characters are spending their own Christmas. And while it's set to be a lively and fun occasion for some, others will be saying a sad goodbye before destruction hits for one beloved family.
The Manchester Evening News was able to find out all the upcoming gossip from Corrie's new producer Kate Brooks who revealed all about her first Yuletide in Weatherfield having taken over the reigns of the running of the ITV soap earlier this year with her own input into the TV institution only just being seen on screen.
READ MORE: Coronation Street star jumps to Alan Halsall's defence after I'm A Celebrity 'row' with telling move
READ MORE: Read more of our Coronation Street stories here
Speaking to us and other press during a recent press event, Kate, who previously worked as a producer on Emmerdale, said: "It's a very lively Xmas on the street, lots of bombshells are dropped. Obviously, this is set against Gail Platt's wedding... Whether she goes through with that or not, I cannot tell anything.
"But this is a story with the Platts at the heart of it, it’s really festive, basically it’s a story about family and how secrets impact and implode on a family, so there’s a lot of betrayals, lots of secrets are exposed during this episode and it will like classic Corrie with a bit of a twist.
"I think we’re all in need of a bit of escapism at the minute and we’ve had quite a dark but brilliant few months on the cobbles. The Xmas period for us is all about trying to tap into the family dynamics of the Platts, what makes people tick and ultimately trying to make sure that we give glorious Gail the exit that she deserves."
Kate continued: "She’s been such an icon on the street for such a long time - 50 years of television, which is amazing - and we can’t tell a story on Christmas Day about her exit without it feeling and being steeped in nostalgia, and there’s tons of nostalgia in this episode and hopefully people will be crying, they’ll be laughing, there’ll be gasps as people watching it go, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s just happened'.
But yeah, old school Corrie but just with a real modern twist and I think people will really really enjoy it. I want people to sit down Xmas night with a full tummy, watch this episode, watch Christmas Day and go ‘You know what, that is exactly what I needed’ so that’s what Corrie is this Christmas."
While fans won't be able to get their Corrie fix at 7am as they have been as part of the new early episode release on ITVX on December 25, it's promising to be worth the wait. "For me, what’s so brilliant about it, you’ve got the Platts at the heart of it," Kate teased.
"You’ve got David and Shona, David has made massive mistakes in hiding visiting orders from Clayton and this goes on to have massive consequences and Shona hits that self destruct behaviour [in the run-up to Christmas], and makes some really terrible judgement calls, but what is important for me about David and Shona is that they can both really mess up but that love that they have is so strong. But can they overcome that? I don’t know.
"But all those secrets come to the forefront on Christmas Day, so you basically have Gail, who’s going to leave the street, in the run-up to Xmas she has found out that some of her nearest and dearest have absolutely betrayed her, she doesn’t know who to believe, even her dear old mum [Audrey Roberts] has kind of lied to her and she really struggles with that and she’s a bit like, ‘I don’t know whether I want this, I don’t know whether I want to be with Jesse’.
"She contemplates and questions everything and every decision she’s ever made, and obviously Gail has had a really colourful past so that’s a big part of that Xmas Day episode, but she is there and she is going to leave the street and it’s going to be so wonderful and sad."
And as a self-confessed soap fan, it's been difficult for Kate to consider Gail's exit after actress Helen Worth decided to bow out of the ITV soap after 50 years. She said: "I’m devastated that Gail’s leaving. It really devastates me cos she’s so iconic and I think that label gets bandied about quite readily but it’s Gail, 50 years she’s been on the street, we’ve watched her grow. It was really important to make sure that her exit, her departure, felt really fitting and in keeping with who she is as a character. But she is there and you’ve got all these different bombs going off around her and she’s oblivious to them all and it’s wonderful. So yeah, it’s a great Christmas."
Story Saved
You can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.