‘Good Morning Britain’ co-host Piers Morgan has blasted Emmerdale’s upcoming International Women’s Day episode as “patronising” and “virtue signalling, PC-crazed poppycock”.
The ITV soap is to air a special ep on Friday (08.03.19) with just female characters and the episode has been written, produced, directed and recorded by a female-led crew, but the ‘Good Morning Britain’ host is not a fan of the idea.
Speaking on the show, 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 – replied:
“It’s just to highlight the fact that he have come on so far.”
Piers insisted he is going to start a campaign for a “male-only ‘Coronation Street'”, and blasted Emmerdale’s special episode as “virtue signalling, PC-crazed poppycock”.
He said:
“Try and explain to me why this isn’t just a load of old virtue signalling, PC-crazed poppycock.
“Linda, can you imagine if ‘Coronation Street’ announced that, to celebrate men, there was going to be a male-only ‘Coronation Street’ with male-only actors and male-only directors and male-only producers and backroom team? Feminists would go utterly berserk.
“I’m very pro-women but I’m being facetious.
“This is not about equality, this is about annoying men by saying ‘Look at us! We can do all this without you.”
Emmerdale’s special episode will follow almost all of the soap’s female characters as they pursue their own individual stories across generations.
Producer Kate Brooks 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 women in 2019.”