Credit: ITV
Emmerdale boss Kate Oates hopes that British soap operas won't become the "poor relations" to American dramas.
The ITV chief praised online video streaming service Netflix as she believes writers and directors are being pushed by the company to create more interesting episodes of Emmerdale, now including the introduction of The White Family.
Asked if she feels under pressure to compete with the streaming service she explained to the Daily Star newspaper: "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 soaps on offer, Kate said she still deals with "soap snobs" but focuses on improving characters and storylines despite that.
"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."
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