Emmerdale’s Lisa Riley has sent her good wishes to her colleague who is making the move from the Dales to the Cobbles in a “new adventure” over at rival ITV soap Coronation Street. The actress took to social media to share a heartfelt post and say her goodbyes. Lisa is part of the Dingle clan on Emmerdale and has portrayed the role of Mandy on and off since 1995.
Lisa regularly updates fans with her life away from the screen on social media. She recently shared a video sketch of herself alongside one of the Emmerdale directors, Joseph Hart, who is trading one ITV soap for the other. In the video, Joe asks for an appointment at the hair salon, but Lisa (in character as Mandy) recommend he tries Audrey’s salon on Coronation Street instead, hinting at his move away from the Yorkshire village.
She accompanied the post with some heartfelt words, she wrote: “To our beautiful friend and colleague who we all adore at @emmerdale the stunning @hart_joseph we want to wish you all the love and luck in the world as you start your new adventure over the other side of the M62 at @coronationstreet.
“We will miss you and your delicious energy so much…go and be you-they will fall in love with you very soon. Friends for life, love your #Emmerdale family.”
Taking to the comments, Eden Taylor-Draper, who portrays Belle Dingle in the ITV soap, added: “Awww Joe we love you so much.” While other fans: “No he’s not allowed to leave!”
Lisa replied to the comment: “We love him so so so much-he will be adored at @coronationstreet they better look after him.” Another fan added to the comments on Instagram: “Aww good luck.”
The news comes as both Coronation Street and Emmerdale have been taken off their usual schedule this week to make space for ITV’s coverage of the UEFA Women’s Euros. The hit soaps will face disruption all week.
Emmerdale fans can normally tune in to the drama in the Dales every weeknight from 7:30pm. But no episode will air on Thursday (July 3) as Spain v Portugal takes over ITV1 from 7:15pm for an 8pm kick-off, meaning its regular Thursday hour-long broadcast has been cancelled.
Over in Weatherfield, Coronation Street usually airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for an hour-long broadcast from 8pm until 9pm. However, no episode will air on Friday, July 4 due to coverage of Germany v Poland, which kicks off at 8pm.
In a statement posted on the soaps’ social media pages, it said: “Heads up! Here’s a handy schedule of where to find us this week. Don’t forget – you can stream episodes from 7am on ITVX and YouTube, the same day they air on TV!” The post explains the schedule change, with no episodes from either soap airing on Thursday and Friday.
Soap fans were disappointed to hear the news that they won’t be able to get their usual fix of their favourite soaps this week. Taking to the comments, one fan said: “It baffles me that they can’t put football on a sports channel!!!”
More angry viewers added to the comments on Instagram. One said: “Just put the footy on ITV2 why change the schedule” and another wrote: “Not more disruption because of football. Sort it out Corrie.”