Corrie in Crisis! ITV bosses left with a ‘huge headache’ after failing to find a boss for the legendary soap as fans ditch it in their droves

It is the most iconic, not to mention longest running, television show in Britain.

But Coronation Street, the 64-year-old ITV soap, is in chaos after the channel failed to find a boss to take charge.

MailOnline can reveal that a number of television executives have turned down the prestigious job, leaving the network with a ‘huge headache’.

ITV’s top drama boss and former editor of The Archers Huw Kennair-Jones has been brought in to help resolve the issue and has approached a number of top TV executives working at the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky in a bid to persuade them.

But so far he has failed to entice anyone to helm the show, set in the fictional town of Weatherfield, after Iain McLeod left the position of Coronation Street boss for a bigger role last week after six years at the broadcaster.

As a stopgap, MacLeod’s wife and Corrie deputy, Verity MacLeod, fills in until they find someone to take the job.

ITV staff say this puts off potential candidates as they don’t want to work between the married couple, something now internally dubbed the ‘MacLeod sandwich’.

The iconic Coronation Street is the longest running soap opera in the world. It started in 1960 and has been running for 64 years since then

William Roache, 91, has played Ken Barlow on the soap for 64 years since it first aired

An insider told MailOnline: ‘ITV has had discussions with a number of television executives who are currently working on other serial dramas or have helmed major shows in the past.

‘But no one wants to do it. One of the things that puts people off is the fact that you answer to Iain while you have his wife as a stand-in.

“It’s a ‘MacLeod sandwich’ that no one wants to be in the middle of and it’s just become even more of a headache for ITV.”

In recent years Corrie, which still stars William Roache as Ken Barlow, has come under fire for abandoning its loyal audience, its obsession with younger characters and a number of ‘incredible’ storylines.

Show insiders say there have been a number of conversations among ITV’s top brass that Corrie series producer Iain MacLeod was in the role for too long after joining the show in 2018, as it is a role that has always changes ownership every two years. three years.

One said: ‘Corrie has always had a two to three year job. It needs that change every few years to bring in new ideas while staying true to its DNA and keeping viewers happy.

“It’s one of the biggest and most prestigious jobs in television. There had been some fuss about the ‘Corrie problem’ for some time, so in creating this new role ITV saw it in both soaps as the response to the departure of both Corrie and Jane Hudson to Emmerdale.’

Corrie’s most-watched episode – with 26.65 million viewers – is still Christmas Day 1987, when Hilda Ogden left Weatherfield for the final time until reprising the role for a few specials.

But this Wednesday’s show was watched by just 3.2 million people and last year it missed the top 10 most-watched TV shows on Christmas Day by just 2.6 million viewers – eight million fewer than a decade earlier.

Earlier this year, actress Maureen Lipman, 77, who has played Evelyn Plummer since 2018, urged the soap to ditch gritty storylines and get back to basics.

Verity MacLeod poses in the winners room at the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards in 2008

Huw Kennair-Jones is in charge of finding Coronation Street’s next boss

She said: “We are now at a point in Corrie where people are being murdered in underwear factories. There is domestic violence. Everything that fits the social problems of the 21st century will appear in your local soap opera.’

On the Beyond The Title podcast, she continued: “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 say, ‘Ooh, Donald Trump, his hair isn’t shocking.’

She added, “All those wonderful sayings your parents come out with, like my mother saying, ‘Ooh, doesn’t a black skirt cover a lot of sins.’ People talk like that, and we recognize it’s true.”

Fans have also taken to Twitter to express their opinions. One said: ‘I loved Corrie but I think it’s so rubbish at the moment. Some scenes make me cringe. The acting and writing are terrible, they’re miles behind EastEnders.’

Another said: ‘Corrie needs new producers now, absolute rubbish.’