Coronation Street producer Iain MacLeod has described this year's Christmas episodes of the soap as "very jolly and very community-focused".
The world's longest-running soap will take prime position in the ITV schedules on Christmas Day with an hour-long episode that brings two of the street's most iconic families, the Barlows and the Platts, together around the Christmas table.
"It's quite jolly, actually," MacLeod told reporters. "Obviously there's a tradition on some soaps of going really big and dark and kind of gothic at Christmas and we've occasionally dipped our toe in that water, but I think it's fair to say this year is maybe more akin to a traditional Coronation Street Christmas.
"It's very funny in places, it's very silly, and it's really heartwarming and joyous.
"There's a really strong community vibe this year where actually we were able to film it at a time when there was a window of opportunity to do some stuff with actors didn't have to be two meters apart all the time. So it's got more of that Coronation Street Community on the cobbles type feeling than some of the previous Christmases had certainly last Christmas.
"We were shooting it in the midst of the strictest of restrictions so we couldn't really do that.
"But this year it's it's very jolly and very community-focused, very family-focused."
Coronation Street's festive special will air on ITV at 8pm on Christmas Day.
> Picture Spoilers: Coming up on Coronation Street (December 20-24)
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