Jan Francis joins Emmerdale cast

Jan Francis is set to join the cast of Emmerdale, as rumours spread that bosses are trying to 'sex up' the soap. Popstar Suzanne Shaw and Cutting It actor Jason Merrells are also heading to the Dales and Zoe Henry is coming back to the show as vet Rhona Goskirk, reports The Sun. The soap is losing out in the ratings to EastEnders which got three million more viewers and Coronation Street which got four million more than Emmerdale on Tuesday. An insider told The Sun: "EastEnders and Coronation Street have been stealing the show and we've had enough. "They're both in their anniversary years. But it does not mean we can't play them at their own game. Sex will be our secret weapon." The new faces will join the cast in March and April, with Joseph Gilgun (Eli Dingle) and Alex Carter (Jamie Hope) both leaving the soap soon. Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk's weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop

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.