Emmerdale’s John Sugden actor Oliver Farnworth has suggested a recent sinister twist on the ITV soap was a deliberate nod to his Coronation Street past, building up to Corriedale
19:00, 26 Dec 2025Updated 19:07, 26 Dec 2025
A recent and sinister Emmerdale plot reminded fans of an eerily similar storyline on Coronation Street(Image: ITV)
A recent and sinister Emmerdale plot reminded fans of an eerily similar storyline on Coronation Street this autumn. Now, an actor involved in the plot has addressed whether it was a deliberate nod to his soap past. Oliver Farnworth returns as killer John Sugden in upcoming scenes, with it confirmed he is in the big Corriedale crossover episode.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, he addressed reuniting with his Corrie pals, having played Andy Carver on the ITV soap between 2014 and 2017. Fans will recall Andy was brutally killed off by killer Pat Phelan, after weeks of him being held hostage.
So when killer John in the Dales featured in a similar storyline with Mackenzie Boyd, this time Oliver playing the villain, fans were left wondering if it was a link to his Corrie days. It sparked theories that John was in fact Andy in a soap twist.
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Emmerdale’s John Sugden actor Oliver Farnworth has suggested a recent sinister twist on the ITV soap was a deliberate nod to his Coronation Street past(Image: ITV)
While we can confirm that John is not Andy and Andy really is dead, actor Oliver did suggest to us that the parallel was intentional. In fact he hinted it was to build up towards the big crossover, tying him and the two soaps together.
He explained: “I think the great thing from Corrie and working with Connor McIntyre who played Phelan… Phelan put my character in a basement and I got to reciprocate that storyline with Mack. So I’ve been through that from his point of view, and now it’s coming from the other side.
“We are all mates and as actors we know our roles, but it was nice to have that role reversal, and all of that is bleeding into this huge episode. It’s been a great build-up.” Oliver joked he wouldn’t mind Andy and John being the same person. He said: “Jandy, shall we say Jandy? We’ve got Robron, let’s have Jandy. I’ll just play both like a split personality. I’d be happy to do both.”
Andy was brutally killed off by killer Pat Phelan, after weeks of him being held hostage(Image: ITV)
We also discussed the fact no Corrie characters recognised John in his police posters which were in Weatherfield police station. “No, he was obviously forgettable,” Oliver joked.
Oliver then teased that there will be more than one twist in the special episode. He said: “I think by this point it’s known there are big stunts involved that are filmed at night time.
“It looks stunning. That’s the action part of it, but the human part of it, there’s pathos, there’s classic Corrie and Emmerdale humour, there’s also huge twists. There’s really huge twists and not just one.”
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.
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