A number of ‘Emmerdale’ fans have claimed they will not watch the soap’s International Women’s Day episode on Friday (08.03.19), branding the ep “sexist”.
The ITV soap is to air a special ep on Friday (08.03.19) which will feature an all-female cast and has been written, produced, directed and recorded by a female-led crew – but not all of the show’s fans will be tuning in.
One wrote:
“Absolutely disgraceful, I’ll never watch #Emmerdale again and I’ve been a fan ever since Mandy Dingle f***ed off.
#AllFemaleCast #Sexist (sic)”
Another tweeted:
“I watch Emmerdale all the time but I won’t be watching the all female one in protest (sic)”
One posted:
“boycott emmerdale! All woman cast no blokes on Friday.. to achieve what? F***ing feminists are taking over the world (sic)
The comments come after ‘Good Morning Britain’ co-host Piers Morgan hit out at Emmerdale’s “patronising” International Women’s Day episode.
Earlier this week, he said:
“Women need men as much as men need women. And the best ‘Emmerdale’ is where you have, as we have now, great story lines involving men, women, great producers and directors who are male and female, camera crew.”
But former ‘Emmerdale’ star Linda Lusardi – who played Carrie Nicholls on the ITV soap – has defended the show’s International Women’s Day episode.
She explained:
“It’s just to highlight the fact that he have come on so far.”
But Piers said:
“Try and explain to me why this isn’t just a load of old virtue signalling, PC-crazed poppycock.”
The special episode will follow almost all of the soap’s female characters as they pursue their own individual stories across generations, and producer Kate Brooks recently insisted the episode is a “celebration of women”.
She said:
“Our International Women’s Day episode is not only a celebration of women in the broadest sense of the word, but also a showcase for the female talent we have in the television industry.
“We wanted the episode to be character-driven and story-led, exploring all aspects of what it’s like to be a woman in 2019.”