There’s changes at the top for Coronation Street and Emmerdale

Weatherfield and The Dales are saying goodbye to their boss after nearly 30 years…

ITV has announced the retirement of John Whiston, Managing Director of Continuing Drama and Head of ITV in the North, after 27 years with the company and a career spanning over 40 years in television.

John Whiston:

“I’ve always said I’ve got the best job in TV. I used to say it privately in case ITV stopped paying me. It has been nothing short of an honour, as well as a blast, to work on the Soaps this last decade or so. We’ve had joy, we’ve had fun and we’ve had seasons in the Sun. We’ve also had misery and mayhem.

“We’ve had motorway crashes, tram crashes and floods. We’ve had stories which have squeezed your heart till tears came out of your eyes. And we’ve covered pretty much anything and everything that people have to face in their own lives and we’ve done that with care and humanity. And all that is down to the 600 or so people – the writers, crew, cast and editorial – who have kept the show on air and at an incredible quality day in day out. And it’s them who have made my job ridiculously easy. Just don’t tell ITV.”

John has been a cornerstone of ITV, who they describe as “a visionary leader with a tireless attitude of making great television”. During his tenure, he played a crucial role in nurturing shows that have achieved huge international success, been sold worldwide and become synonymous with ITV, such as A Touch of Frost, Heartbeat, Lewis, Vera and The Chase. 

In his current role, John has overseen the network’s flagship soaps, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

Under his leadership both soaps have not only entertained millions, surprised their audiences with everything from floods to motorway pile ups to live tram crashes, they have influenced change through many issue-based storylines such as those concerning domestic abuse, suicide and mental health issues. Coronation Street’s societal contribution was recognised in an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons to celebrate its record breaking 60th Anniversary year.

John Whiston:

“With the appointment of Iain MacLeod as Creative Director and Matt Cleary as Chief Operating Officer and with fantastic stories in place for the move to five episodes a week next January, and a never-before-seen mega mash-up between the two shows, the future for our ITV Soaps is set fair. So it’s the right time to leave and for me just to say thank you… to colleagues, to ITV and to our loyal, appreciative audience.”

Iain MacLeod

John was also instrumental in developing Original Voices, an initiative aimed at finding writers from diverse backgrounds, as well as launching the annual Tony Warren Bursary giving a Northern student from a diverse socio-economic background the chance to study at one of the great drama schools.  Full details of John’s extensive career are listed below. John will step down at the end of the month and will hand the baton over to Iain MacLeod and Matt Cleary.

Iain, currently Executive Producer for Continuing Drama, is promoted to Creative Director and takes on all editorial responsibility for leading the creative teams who produce both Emmerdale and Coronation Street. He will report to Julian Bellamy, Managing Director, ITV Studios.

Matt Cleary takes on the role of Chief Operating Officer for Continuing Drama and will be responsible for ensuring day to day operations run smoothly as well as approving all commercial activities on the soaps. He takes on this role alongside his role as Director of Production, UK Scripted for ITV Studios.

Julian Bellamy, Managing Director ITV Studios:

“John has been a brilliant, inspirational leader at ITV for over 27 years. He’s pretty much done it all and done it brilliantly. His wisdom, creativity and razor-sharp editorial judgement has powered the soaps success. Alongside many others at ITV, I will miss John hugely and wish him the very best for the future.”

John started his career as a General Trainee at the BBC working on shows such as Time Watch and Omnibus. He was also one of the founding producers of The Late Show, before a move to producing full length films and series including the multi award winning Absurdistan and Naked Hollywood. 

Matt Cleary

John went on to invent the BBC Two theme night, many of which gained the channel prime time BBC1 level audience figures. He also nurtured new comedy, launching shows such as Vic & Bob’s Shooting Stars and Lee & Herring’s Fist of Fun. John then moved to Manchester to lead the ‘Yoof'(!) department where he commissioned/exec produced a bunch of legendary programmes such as The Sunday Show, Rough Guides, Red Dwarf, The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family. And though he cancelled Mastermind, he did bring University Challenge back to life.

John joined ITV in 1999 as Director of Programmes at Yorkshire TV, where he helped build key ITV shows such as Emmerdale, Heartbeat and A Touch of Frost as well as launching new award-winning drama such as At Home with the Braithwaites, Fat Friends and the Emmy winning Lost For Words.

John then took on responsibility for all of ITV Production’s drama including Poirot, Marple, Prime Suspect, Vera, Lewis, the Oscar winning feature film, The Queen and, of course, the crown jewels – Coronation Street.

In 2005 he became Director of ITV Productions, later ITV Studios, responsible for all ITV produced programming across all genres – entertainment, factual, daytime, arts and drama. And he was part of the Granada management team which combined the disparate ITV regional companies into One ITV. In 2010, John took on the role he holds today, looking after his one true love, The Soaps.

Kevin Lygo, Managing Director, Media and Entertainment:

“John has been a stalwart of ITV, the North, and the soaps for a very long time. His fingerprints are all over Coronation Street and Emmerdale and they are all the better for it. Every twist and turn of the plotlines have had input from John and he will be sorely missed by all that have worked with him. ITV and I have been very fortunate to work with such a wonderful man. We wish him well in the next episode of his life.”