Emmerdale star Lucy Pargeter has shared Chas Dingle’s role in the explosive Corriedale special for the first time. Chas will be one of the characters caught up in chaotic scenes when a multi-vehicle crash brings in familiar faces from both ITV soaps in the New Year.

Earlier this week, show bosses released the full list of 41 Coronation Street and Emmerdale characters who’ll feature in the hour-long crossover event. Chas is included alongside her partner Liam Cavanagh.

 

 

We attended the red carpet premiere event for Corriedale in Bradford this week and caught up with Lucy for an exclusive chat about what’s in store.

“I did about three scenes – and I’m in fancy dress!” Lucy laughed. “It was funny because one of the Corrie girls, who obviously doesn’t watch Emmerdale but that’s absolutely fine, she went: ‘Do you play an undertaker?’

 

 

“I was in this beautiful Holland Cooper suit. I went: ‘No, babe, we’ve just been to a fancy dress do!’

“We’re on the way back to the village in one of the Weatherfield cabs and then everything ensues. A bit of chaos, a lot of running around. A lot of huff and puff, jeopardy and a lot of explosions!”

Reassuring us over Chas, Lucy continued: “She’s not particularly in danger but she’s in amongst it!

 

 

“I did a lot of the night shoots with the Corrie cast. I’ve met some new and existing friends. It’s been nice to see people not at an awards do, when everyone’s had a few too many sherberts! It’s nice to see everyone working. Everybody was brilliant.”

Corriedale has been written in to launch ITV’s new power-hour scheduling for the soaps. From 6 January, Emmerdale will air every weekday at 8pm for 30 minutes, with a 30-minute Corrie following straight afterwards at 8.30pm.

 

 

This will mean that each soap gets 30 minutes less screen time in 2026, as producers move towards a more “digestible” format for fans.

Praising the crossover decision, Lucy continued: “It was amazing to be involved, to be quite honest with you. I’m surprised it’s taken this long! Looking at the way that things in TV are going, I think there might be a bit more of this in the future.

“I don’t think it’s particularly wrong, either. I think it’s quite good for the two to merge. We are so close geographically, so it makes sense that they would come into contact with each other.

“So I’d quite like to see a bit more. We’ve all done the live episodes, we’ve all done the stunts, so let’s keep doing something a bit different.”

For Lucy, there was only one missed opportunity – no scenes where Chas came face-to-face with Corrie’s Carla Connor.

Asked to name her favourite Corrie character, Lucy replied: “Carla – I love her! But unfortunately there was no intermingling!”