Lee Rayner, who has served as Head of Production on Coronation Street for over 10 years, is reportedly leaving the cobbles for a rival soap.
The TV exec has worked at ITV’s Corrie since 2011, putting in two years as an assistant director before filling the production manager role in 2013, and graduating to Head of Production in 2021. Before that, he gained credits in plenty of other shows, including Death in Paradise, Doctors, and The Bill.
Now, however, he’s ditching ITV for Channel 4, and moving over to Hollyoaks. According to Broadcast, Lee will take over the role from Colette Chard, who’s moving on to a kid’s drama run by the same production company, Lime Pictures, as Hollyoaks.
In a statement, Lee gushed: “I am thrilled to be embarking on a new adventure at Lime Pictures as head of production for Hollyoaks and helping to deliver such an engaging high-end drama.
“I’m also very excited to reunite once again with the incredibly talented Hannah Cheers and really looking forward to getting to know and working with the production team, who have an industry-wide reputation as highly-skilled filmmakers.”
Managing director of Lime Pictures, John Whittle, also released a statement, reading in part: “Continuing drama is a fantastic genre to work in and its production model is crucial to its success. We are delighted that Lee is coming to us from a much-loved programme, as well-oiled as Coronation Street, at delivering ambitious drama with a tightly moving schedule.”
While Lee seemed more than happy to be heading onto pastures new, Coronation Street stars are reportedly struggling amid a huge slew of firings among the cast. “There’s a WhatsApp group which has been pinging with messages about concerns of where the axe will fall next. It’s a tough time on the soap and it’s filtering down,” a source told The Sun last week, claiming the cast was in fear of losing their jobs.
The insider added that actors thought the show might fire even more people in order to afford keeping the highest-paid stars in the show. Alongside the smaller cast, life on set is said to be a lot less “fun” that it once was. The insider explained: “Filming is tough. One person moaned they were ‘worked like dogs.’”
Recently, insiders explained that a major budget crisis was behind the cast firings. “Corrie is on its knees financially and bosses are being forced to make hard decisions” thanks to TV production costs soaring while the advertising market funding them has all-but collapsed. “The cast are not happy but ITV have no choice but to slash costs,” a source said.
Despite the worry, an insider told The Mirror that there are big things to come for the show and that it’s a case of “one door closes and another opens” for the show. “Fans can ignore any idea that within a decade the soap will be gone, because it’s in no way on the brink of collapse.
“There’s some really exciting twists ahead for our favourite characters and couples, with a massive stunt that will no doubt bring the drama, as well as some hard-hitting storylines bringing some of soap’s biggest characters to the forefront,” they said.
“It really is a case of one door closes and another opens in that some familiar faces will be leaving, but others will be back – and the new faces could be just what the show needs. There’s so much ahead so the idea the end of Corrie is in sight is bonkers.”
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