EastEnders’ executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins has criticised the “snobbery” towards soap operas.

Speaking at a session for soaps at the Edinburgh Television Festival, he said: “It’s very easy to knock the soaps. Within our telly industry there’s a snobbery about soap and actually, the viewers keep coming back to us. The viewers don’t have a snobbery about this at all.”

Sitting on a panel that included Coronation Street producer Stuart Blackburn, Emmerdale producer Kate Oates and Hollyoaks executive producer Bryan Kirkwood, he launched a staunch defence of the genre.

Coronation Street
Soaps were under discussion in Edinburgh (Peter Byrne/PA)

He said: “Viewing figures are going down across the board – lots of people like to sit down and binge on Netflix, but it’s a very isolated experience and what soaps do is create a big national talking point. It creates a sense of community.”

The producers of the four UK soaps discussed production challenges, how to engage audiences, debated what’s next for the genre and revealed where they went wrong with certain plotlines.

The Hollyoaks Gloved Hand Killer
Hollyoaks’ latest storyline asks: Who is the Gloved Hand Killer? (Lime Pictures)

Kirkwood admitted: “We did a story about 18 months ago, with our serious hat on, about a Nigerian asylum seeker – a gay lad – who’d left Nigeria seeking asylum in Britain and we disappeared so far up our own a**e.”

Treadwell-Collins said it was an exciting time for his BBC One soap: “I’ve got Gillian Taylforth, Letitia Dean, Steve McFadden and Adam Woodyatt all sitting in a room acting together and it’s amazing. It’s like Avengers Assemble!”

Emmerdale's dramatic explosion scenes
Emmerdale’s dramatic explosion scenes aired this summer (ITV)

He also issued a plea for unity from broadcasters of the evening soaps: “Everyone loves saying we don’t like each other and we hate each other, that’s not true at all. The problem comes when we’re scheduled against each other. That’s when it gets nasty, when channels pitch us against each other. We should stick together – we’re all on the same team. We’re all telling these amazing stories.”