Emmerdale announces all-female episode for International Women’s Day
Written by News on 03/10/2018
Emmerdale is to air an all-female episode to mark International Women’s Day next year.
The one-off episode of the drama, which has two female producers and a female executive producer, will also be created by women.
In what is believed to be a first for a soap, the episode will air on 8 March.
“We’re really excited about this and really proud to be doing it, and to recognise International Women’s Day,” executive producer Jane Hudson said at a media event for the programme.
“I think it’s the first time a soap has had an all-women team.
“What we want to do for that episode is to have it produced by a female, written by a female, directed by a female, and the entire cast will be female, including all the background artists.”
All the TV crew positions that can be filled by women will be, she said.
Ms Hudson, who took over at Emmerdale earlier this year after a stint as ITV’s drama commissioner, said it would be a role reversal for the men on the set.
“The men are loving it,” she said. “What they don’t realise is that we’re going to give some of our males the traditional female roles for the day, so we’ll all be bringing our kids in.”
The soap, first broadcast in 1972, is set in the fictional village of Emmerdale and is produced by ITV Studios Yorkshire in Leeds.
It was named best serial drama at the National Television Awards in 2017 and 2018, and best soap at the British Soap Awards in 2016 and 2017.
(c) Sky News 2018: Emmerdale announces all-female episode for International Women’s Day
