Emmerdale is lining up a special episode for International Women's Day, featuring a female-only cast.
The show's new boss Jane Hudson revealed the ground-breaking news at an Emmerdale press event yesterday (October 2), after being appointed the top role earlier this year.
Jane took over the role of executive producer following Iain MacLeod's move to Coronation Street and is now responsible for the future editorial and creative direction of the show.
Meanwhile, Emmerdale's former assistant producer Kate Brooks and series script producer Laura Shaw will now share the title of producer. The pair produce blocks of episodes on a rotational basis and take responsibility for the day-to-day running of Emmerdale.
Vanessa Woodfield and Charity Dingle discuss their feelings in Emmerdale
© ITV
Speaking about her plans for the episode, Jane revealed that not only would it feature an all-female cast, but it would be produced, directed and written by women.
Jane said: "We're doing something rather special on March 8, International Women's Day, now we've got two female producers and a female executive producer – which is the first time a soap has had an all-female team.
"We are going to have an episode that is produced by a female, directed by a female and written by a female. The entire cast will be female including all the background artists and we will have almost an entire female crew."
She joked: "What they don't realise is that we'll be giving some of the men the traditional female roles for the day so we'll all be bringing our kids in for them to look after. We're really excited to be doing it, to be recognising IWD and do our bit for it."
Emmerdale will air the special episode on Friday, March 8, 2019.
Digital Spy