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"Stuart Blackburn has been appointed as the new producer of Coronation Street, succeeding current boss Phil Collinson in the role. Blackburn, who has been working as Emmerdale&amp;#039;s series producer since early 2011, will take up the position in January.   [Left: Stuart Blackburn / Right: Phil Collinson] Collinson, meanwhile, will remain at ITV in a new role working with Kieran Roberts to develop new drama from ITV&amp;#039;s base in Manchester. Speaking of his new post, Blackburn commented: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m in the very privileged position of producing Emmerdale&amp;#039;s hour-long live episode to celebrate the programme&amp;#039;s 40th birthday, and I get to produce Coronation Street too. Life just couldn&amp;#039;t get any better.  &amp;quot;Emmerdale is a very special programme to me, as I was born and brought up in West Yorkshire. I&amp;#039;m in total admiration of the cast and production team as they are all incredibly talented people. They do an amazing job and I&amp;#039;ll be sad to leave them. &amp;quot;Coronation Street also has a place in my heart, as I believe passionately in storytelling, and although I recognise it&amp;#039;s a massive responsibility, I have the best job in the world.&amp;quot;   Phil Collinson added: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s been an honour to produce Coronation Street and I&amp;#039;ll be sad to leave. But the drama can only stay at the top of its game if the producer is re-energised every two to three years. &amp;quot;By the time I say farewell I&amp;#039;ll have been with the programme for nearly three years and produced almost 750 episodes. It&amp;#039;s an achievement I&amp;#039;m hugely proud of, but I know I couldn&amp;#039;t have done it without the amazing production team, writers, cast and crew who work tirelessly to produce the best drama on television. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. &amp;quot;I wish Stuart every success, and look forward now to taking up my new role developing drama and producing brand new drama from our base in Manchester.&amp;quot;   John Whiston, ITV Studios&amp;#039; creative director for soaps, paid tribute to both Collinson and Blackburn. Whiston explained: &amp;quot;Phil Collinson leaves Coronation Street after nearly three memorable years. As the master of big events, Phil pulled off Coronation Street&amp;#039;s 50th anniversary in amazing style and to universal acclaim - universal that is unless you were a character that died in the mangled wreckage of the tram! &amp;quot;But he has also proved himself as a great peace time producer, filling the show with character, intrigue and traditional Coronation Street wit - so much so that Coronation Street won a string of prestigious awards to mark one of the most successful periods in the programme&amp;#039;s history.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a legacy to be proud of. We&amp;#039;re pleased that he&amp;#039;s staying with ITV to develop and produce new engaging drama out of Manchester.&amp;quot; He continued: &amp;quot;Stuart has overseen an Emmerdale that is modern, exciting, purposeful and dramatic - and in great shape as it approaches its 40th birthday. Stuart combines a real delight in and respect for the world of soap with a deep understanding of the nitty gritty of storytelling.  &amp;quot;These qualities make him an ideal choice to take on the equally demanding but very slightly different challenges of Coronation Street.&amp;quot; ITV will now begin the process to find a new producer for Emmerdale to take the rural soap beyond its 40th anniversary. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/coronation-street/news/a422832/coronation-street-stuart-blackburn-named-new-producer/>