Whiston has nurtured long-running dramas such as Vera and overseen ITV flagship soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale

John Whiston is to retire from his role of managing director of continuing drama and head of ITV in the north, after 27 years with the company and a career spanning over 40 years in television.

Whiston steps down at the end of May with Iain MacLeod and Matt Cleary taking over as dual replacements.

MacLeod, currently executive producer for continuing drama, is promoted to creative director and takes on all editorial responsibility for leading the creative teams who produce both Emmerdale and Coronation Street. He will report to Julian Bellamy, managing director, ITV Studios.

Matt Cleary takes on the role of chief operating officer for continuing drama and will be responsible for ensuring day to day operations run smoothly as well as approving all commercial activities on the soaps. He takes on this role alongside his role as director of production, UK scripted for ITV Studios.

During his tenure, Whiston played a key role in nurturing ITV shows that became long-running flagship dramas for the channel, as well as global sellers, such as A Touch of Frost, Heartbeat, Lewis and Vera.

As MD of continuing drama, Whiston has overseen Coronation Street and Emmerdale, including the former’s special 60 anniversary editions last year.

He also helped develop Original Voices, an initiative aimed at finding writers from diverse backgrounds, as well as launching the annual Tony Warren Bursary, giving a northern student from a diverse socio-economic background the chance to study at one of the great drama schools. Full details of John’s extensive career are listed below.

Whiston said: “I’ve always said I’ve got the best job in TV. I used to say it privately in case ITV stopped paying me.

“It has been nothing short of an honour, as well as a blast, to work on the Soaps this last decade or so. We’ve had joy, we’ve had fun and we’ve had seasons in the Sun. We’ve also had misery and mayhem. We’ve had motorway crashes, tram crashes and floods. We’ve had stories which have squeezed your heart till tears came out of your eyes.

“And we’ve covered pretty much anything and everything that people have to face in their own lives and we’ve done that with care and humanity. And all that is down to the 600 or so people – the writers, crew, cast and editorial – who have kept the show on air and at an incredible quality day in day out. And it’s them who have made my job ridiculously easy. Just don’t tell ITV.

With the appointment of Iain MacLeod as Creative Director and Matt Cleary as Chief Operating Officer and with fantastic stories in place for the move to five episodes a week next January, and a never-before-seen mega mash-up between the two shows, the future for our ITV Soaps is set fair. So it’s the right time to leave and for me just to say thank you… to colleagues, to ITV and to our loyal, appreciative audience.”

Bellamy added: “John has been a brilliant, inspirational leader at ITV for over 27 years. He’s pretty much done it all and done it brilliantly. His wisdom, creativity and razor-sharp editorial judgement has powered the soaps success. Alongside many others at ITV, I will miss John hugely and wish him the very best for the future.”