Corrie boss: 'Tina's leaving is the prologue for a much bigger storyline' (VIDEO)

Coronation Street producer Stuart Blackburn says that far from leaving a big hole, Tina McIntyre's exit early in 2014 will be the start of much bigger plot.

He told What's on TV: "There's some stunning stuff coming up with Tina and Peter, that's really starting to heat up. Everyone knows that Tina's leaving, well in a way her leaving is a kind of prologue for a much bigger story that takes us into 2014 and even into 2015.

"Obviously Kevin [Webster] is coming back, which is brilliant for all of us, and Jason Grimshaw's dad, a man who doesn't like to be told no. He's turning up and he's going to be causing some serious trouble in the coming months."

Stuart also has big plans for Jimi Mistry's new character Kal. "Once he settles in we'll start to introduce Kal's son and Kal's dad as well, so quite a few new face to look forward to."

Watch the interview with Coronation Street producer Stuart Blackburn:

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.