Exclusive: Emmerdale bosses treat cast ‘like chess pieces’ and anyone could be axed amid limo crash
ITV soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street are undergoing huge changes - which will inevitably also mean that some actors will get the chop
Emmerdale star Lisa Riley has admitted that there is “never a day” as a jobbing actor on the soap that she feels “safe”.
Working on British soaps is typically seen as one of the more stable jobs in the acting world, but I TV’s plans for huge changes on Emmerdale and Coronation Street, the axing of episodes and a number of huge name exits has sparked concern among some fans. Both soaps will lose about 30 minutes each with the scaling back of episodes, which comes into effect in 2026.
The decision – taken after the Valentine’s Day plot was filmed – means there will sadly be up to 75 jobs lost across cast, crew and production on both soaps. The two shows will then be aired back-to-back each weeknight in a new “power hour” between 8 and 9pm.
Addressing the lack of job security, Lisa tells the Mirror : “We are all jobbing actors on the soap and there is never a day where we come in and go: ‘Oh we are safe’. We are a chess piece on the producer’s board. Whatever they bring to us, we bring it to the screen. And there is always going to be a day when a new producer might come in and need a big wipe out. That is what keeps the audience involved too and so we have to keep up with the climate of what people expect.”
A limo will crash into an icy lake ( Image:ITV)
Despite that, Lisa says that she is still so incredibly happy to be part of such a popular show. She continues: “Whenever I am out and about, people tell me: ‘We love Emmerdale ’. The fact that I get to be part of it is wonderful. ITV make some big dramas that can be five episodes long. We do five parts in a week. The hamster wheel never stops.”
Her comments come ahead of tonight’s jaw-dropping episode tonight as the soap airs its most complex, terrifying and cinematic stunt to date. Seven of the soaps’ biggest characters – including Lisa’s Mandy Dingle – involved in the much-anticipated crash as their two limousines collide, sending one flying bonnet first into a frozen lake. Trapped under the ice in the freezing water, not everyone will make it out alive. At least one beloved character will die – with the new promo showing a haunting hand of a victim floating lifeless in the lake.
One of the beloved villagers won’t make it out alive ( Image:ITV)
Emmerdale’s production team first started planning the Valentine’s Day episode in August 2024 and in total, 90 members of crew and specialist contractors were involved. The dramatic scenes were filmed during a night shoot that took two weeks just before Christmas on the soap’s overflow car park in Yorkshire. It was cleverly converted into an icy lake by a specialist special effects TV company, Snow Business, using a liquid wax to create the effect of the ice.
The soap’s production manager Neil Shand explains: “We used lots of special equipment to film this stunt. To create the icy lake itself, our contractors, used specialist equipment to heat and create the liquid wax used for the icy surface. We knew that we would be filming for two weeks and so that’s why the ice was wax and fake rather than real. The unpredictability of the great British weather meant we needed an icy lake that was safe too. It looked so authentic, everyone felt as though it was genuinely icy!”
