Soap stars collide as EastEnders’ Janine Butcher and Coronation Street’s Steve McDonald go looking for love on Channel 4’s First Dates.
The soap series regulars will cross paths on the popular dating show in a special sketch for BBC Children In Need.
Janine, played by Charlie Brooks, is looking for romance and turns to the Channel 4 programme for help when she unexpectedly ends up on a date with Steve, portrayed by Simon Gregson.
Janine Butcher and Steve McDonald in the @FirstDates restaurant – the @bbceastenders / Corrie crossover we all needed in our lives! 💛
Tune in to the #ChildreninNeed Appeal Show on Friday 19 November on @BBC One & @BBCiPlayer from 7pm to see whether love blossoms! pic.twitter.com/Zv52BPKiO8
— BBC Children in Need (@BBCCiN) November 10, 2021
In a teaser video for the crossover sketch, they are introduced to each other at the restaurant by French maitre d’, Fred Sirieix.
After an awkward opening exchange, the couple have a moment of bonding when they realise that Janine’s father and Steve both used to own a pub.
She then asks “Have you ever been married?”, to which he replies: “Well you could say that, yeah.”
When Janine prods further, asking if it has been a couple of times, he clarifies he has been married seven times, causing her to cough on her drink.
She adds: “So you’re not afraid of a commitment, then? and Steve jokes: “Or the divorce courts.”
Janine first arrived in Albert Square in 1999 as the daughter of Frank Butcher, and is known for her fiery, and often villainous, personality and has had a string of husbands who have died as a result of her rage.
She married her first husband Barry Evans, played by Shaun Williamson, on New Year’s Eve 2003, only to kill him the next day by pushing him off a cliff in Scotland.
She later married an elderly man named David, after targeting him for his money. He suffered a heart attack at the ceremony and died.
Janine tried to kill another husband, Ryan Malloy, before successfully doing so with fourth husband Michael Moon.
Steve, who has been a popular Corrie character since 1989, has not had much luck in love either.
He has been married to Vicky Arden (Chloe Newsome), twice to Karen Phillips (Suranne Jones), Becky Granger (Katherine Kelly) and Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh).
The character was most recently married to Tracy Barlow in 2018, who he previously married in 2012.
The soap crossover sketch is written by Bafta award-winning writer Daran Little and will be part of the BBC Children In Need appeal show on BBC One on November 19 from 7pm.