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has announced that soap legend John Whiston, the Managing Director of Continuing Drama and Head of ITV in the North, will be retiring after a remarkable 27-year tenure with the company. Whiston, who has dedicated over four decades to television, was responsible for overseeing iconic soaps and .

In his parting words, John expressed his deep affection for his role, stating: "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."

He finished: "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."

He revealed that Iain MacLeod and Matt Cleary would be stepping in following his departure, proclaiming: "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."

He also expressed his heartfelt gratitude: "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."

This announcement follows a period of significant change for ITV soaps, with plans unveiled for an unprecedented Corrie and Emmerdale crossover special, alongside a decision to reduce the number of weekly episodes next year. February brought news of a major scheduling overhaul for Coronation Street and Emmerdale from ITV, leading to a decrease in airtime by one hour each week for the beloved soaps.

Consequently, soap staff were ushered into redundancy discussions, with sources speaking to outlets indicating that approximately 75 positions could be cut from the combined workforce of 600 employees across both series, reports .