‘Emmerdale’ boss Kate Oates doesn’t want British soap operas to be the "poor relations" to American dramas.
The ITV chief has praised online video streaming service, Netflix – which has produced the original dramas, ‘Orange Is The New Black’ and ‘House of Cards’ – as she believes the company is pushing writers and directors to create more interesting episodes for the Yorkshire-based soap, such as the introduction of The White Family.
When asked if she feels under pressure to compete with Netflix, Kate said: "The bar has been set so high because of what’s coming out of America. You don’t want people watching British soaps and then watching Netflix and thinking: ‘This is loads better,’ and we look like poor relations.
"I think soaps are becoming better respected and I think that is partly because as producers and writers, we are so influenced by TV dramas."
Despite the variety of high quality soaps on offer, Kate told the Daily Star newspaper she still deals with "soap snobs" but explained how she tries to focus on improving the characters and storylines – which includes the addition of the wealthy White family to ‘Emmerdale’.
She said: "I think people fall into two camps – either those who gets soap, understand it and love it or those who are a bit snobby about it.
"Those who are snobby about it, that’s fine. It’s not a problem.
"But for the rest of us, I think we invest in the characters."
Emmerdale boss says soaps must get better
