With ITV planning to make soap history by airing the groundbreaking Corriedale special in the New Year, it was no surprise to see Emmerdale‘s Christmas episode serving as a sneaky showcase for what’s to come. Fans are eagerly awaiting a historic TV moment on 5 January as the worlds of Emmerdale and Coronation Street collide for the first time – and returning character John Sugden will be among those at the centre of the drama.

John made his comeback in Emmerdale‘s hour-long festive episode, providing an element of surprise for fans who’d perhaps expected Kev Townsend to be the one causing chaos. Kev returned with his own revenge plan this week, unable to accept Robert Sugden’s decision to choose Aaron Dingle over him. But the even bigger threat of John lay waiting in the wings…

Aaron and Victoria Sugden both feared for Robert’s life when he mysteriously went AWOL on Christmas Day. The timing certainly didn’t look great, with dangerous Kev still on the loose.

When viewers were given a glimpse of someone unconscious and tied up in an abandoned house, it seemed that Robert was in a precarious position… until he turned up at The Woolpack, alive and well. Turned out that he’d just nipped out for an errand, so who was the guy being held prisoner?

Well, the real target for trouble ended up being Kev himself. For reasons that will become clear, master manipulator John has decided to hold Kev captive as part of a bigger scheme against Robert and Aaron.

In an eerie cliffhanger, John managed to sneak undetected into The Woolpack, where a drunken Aaron had passed out in the back room after the day’s festivities.

This gave John the opportunity for an ominous monologue about his intentions for Aaron: “So many people care about you, but not one of them as much as I do. 2025 has been a shocking year, but ’26? That is going to be the best year ever. Because you and me, we’re going to be together. No matter what…” Oh dear!

As well as setting the stage for sinister scenes over the next 7 days or so, John’s festive return takes us full steam ahead to Corriedale on 5 January. ITV bosses announced the full cast of 41 characters last week and it was John’s inclusion in the episode that sparked the most headlines.

The writers and storyliners have always held back from giving John’s story a definitive ending and have closely connected him with Corriedale throughout, including in ‘Wanted’ posters seen over on Corrie. So we can surely expect a fitting climax to this saga when Corriedale hits our screens after the festive season.

“I think love ultimately brings him back, and jealousy brings him back,” Oliver Farnworth, who plays John, told The Mirror recently. “He feels like he has got far less to lose this time, and so we might see a slightly more dishevelled and unhinged side to John.”

Clearly making up for lost time after three months away from the soap, John didn’t hesitate before involving himself in other ongoing storylines, too. Within about 20 minutes back on screen, he’d discovered (part of) Charity Dingle’s baby secret and posted a tell-all letter to Mackenzie Boyd, warning that his wife was lying to him.

Charity and Mack are both on the Corriedale cast list, so expect this to have consequences as well!

Other early teasers for Corriedale included Chas Dingle revealing that her partner Liam Cavanagh had booked them in for a murder mystery event at a hotel in Weatherfield, which explains how they’ll end up interacting with some Corrie favourites in the episode.

“I did about three scenes – and I’m in fancy dress!” Lucy Pargeter told Digital Spy recently when discussing her involvement in Corriedale.

“I was in this beautiful Holland Cooper suit. We’re on the way back to the village in one of the Weatherfield cabs and then everything ensues. A bit of chaos, a lot of running around. A lot of huff and puff, jeopardy and a lot of explosions!”

With stunt carnage ahead in Corriedale – the special episode will focus on a multi-car pile-up on a remote road – there was breathing room for Emmerdale to focus on character and community in its Christmas special this year instead. The biggest fireworks, stunts and twists are clearly being saved for January.

For us, Claire King stole the show as Kim Tate, who was pulled out of festive misery when her best friend Lydia Dingle held out an olive branch, helping to get her Christmas Day back on track.

We love Emmerdale‘s knack for creating unlikely friendships between polar opposite characters, so the speedy repairing of the Kim/Lydia bond was great to see. Although Kim drinking from the Dingle welly was certainly unexpected – only at Christmas!

The show also gave April Windsor and Marlon Dingle some welcome respite from their problems, as they enjoyed a fun Christmas Day and tried to forget about the imminent threat of Celia Daniels and Ray Walters. But with trapped April now agreeing to move away with the two villains, she won’t be out of the danger zone for long…

Elsewhere, the villagers’ sombre mentions of those characters no longer with them – Amy, Will, Ethan, and various members of the King family – showed strong attention to detail and gave us some touching throwbacks to past storylines.

This time, the writers managed to create the perfect mix of drama and joy with the festive episode – although this will definitely prove to be the calm before the Corriedale chaos…