BBC EastEnders boss’ five-word statement about claims he’s set for top ITV Coronation Street job

EastEnders writer Daran Little has issued a message to fans begging him to join Coronation Street.

The BAFTA award winning TV writer has worked on the BBC soap since 2010, after first working on Corrie for 10 years. Fans have been calling for Daran to head back to Coronation Street after show boss Iain MacLeod departed the ITV soap last week. Iain left his role to start as Executive Producer for Continuing Drama at ITV and ITVX overseeing Emmerdale as well as the drama on the cobbles.

Reports suggest there is a void left in the Series Producer job slot as ITV have failed to entice anyone to take on the position full time. ITV commissioning editor Huw Kennair-Jones is said to be taking the role in the interim and Iain’s wife Verity MacLeod is also stepping in to help while remaining as a deputy on Corrie.

Following Iain’s departure, many fans have speculated who will take over – with some thinking Daran could make the move. One asked him: “People on digital spy forums are hoping you’ll take over Iain Macleods job at Corrie. Do you fancy going back there?” Daran issued a message to his followers as he insisted: “I’m very happy at Eastenders.”

Viewers reacted to his message as one urged: “Don’t ever leave EastEnders!” Another added: “I hope everyone behind the scenes never leaves, it is why EastEnders is Back, #Eastenders, Thank You.” Someone else commented: “And I hope @bbceastenders are happy to have you too!”

A source has claimed: “ITV have had conversations with a number of television executives who are currently working on other serial dramas or have in the past been at the helm of big shows.” The source added to the MailOnline: “But no one wants to do it. One of the things putting people off is the fact that you’d be answering to Iain while having his wife as your deputy. It’s a ‘MacLeod sandwich’ that no one wants to be in the middle of and it’s now become even more of a headache for ITV.”

The news came after some cast members expressed concern over the show’s future. Viewing figures have dropped to little over 3 million viewers per episode which is a long way from the highs of 25 million that the show could pull in during its golden era. Dame Maureen Lipman, 77, who plays Evelyn Plummer, told the Beyond The Title podcast: “We’ve come to a point in Corrie now where people are getting murdered in knicker factories.

“We’re having domestic abuse. Anything that ticks the box of social problems in the 21st century is going to be in your local soap… Whereas back then you had the freedom to put Martha [Longhurst], Minnie [Caldwell] and Ena [Sharples] in the snug and have a conversation about Ben-Hur.

“It’s never been political but I always like it when the women sit down and go, ‘Ooh, Donald Trump, ain’t his hair shocking’… All those wonderful expressions that your parents come out with, like my mother saying, ‘Ooh, doesn’t a black skirt cover a multitude of sins.’ People talk like that, and we recognise it as true.”

Ken Barlow actor William Roache recently appealed to a fan who had stopped watching the show. The 91-year-old actor – who has starred in Corrie since the show began in 1960 – said in a personalised video message that was then released online: “A show like Coronation Street is so well-established and it has its phases. Sometimes there is a lot of serious stuff, and things like that but Coronation Street really is known for its humour and there’ll be periods – quite long periods – where it will be on the drama side but it changes. It goes through phases like that and I understand a lot of people stop watching Coronation Street.”