Corriedale spoilers follow.

Tonight's Corriedale aired a hilarious soap in-joke – here's why Steve McDonald recognised Jai Sharma. During the one-hour special crossover episode between Emmerdale and Coronation Street, a number of our ITV soap favourites were involved in a multi-vehicle crash.

While there was drama aplenty, one moment that stood out included a tongue-in-cheek nod to one character's involvement in another soap.

During the funny moment, Steve (played by Simon Gregson), who was walking up to an ambulance with Cassie Plummer, thought he spotted a familiar face.

After spotting Emmerdale's Jai Sharma, who was driving a van at the scene of the crash, Steve said: "I just thought I saw somebody I used to work with, but it can't be."

While some fans may have missed it, eagle-eyed viewers will know that this is a nod to Jai actor Chris Bisson, who previously played Vikram on Coronation Street between 1999-2002 before taking on the role of Jai in 2009.

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corriedale jai sharma steve mcdonald cassie plummer
ITV

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As the co-founder of Street Cars alongside Steve, the characters both appeared on screen opposite one another, so the Easter egg makes sense.

However, this isn't a Hollyoaks and Brookside crossover – a Donny Clark aka Mick Johnson situation – Jai and Vikram are not the same person, it's just a joke for the fans.

corriedale jai sharma steve mcdonald cassie plummer
ITV

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Jai actor Bisson recently teased a big story for his character, teasing what's to come after the crash, saying: "I'm not in a huge amount of Corriedale, compared to what some of the people have been involved in," Chris explained. "But all I can say is that it kicks off something big!

"So it's a small part, but something much bigger comes from it. It's a nice little crossover. I couldn't cross with a lot of the Coronation Street cast because I look too similar to a character they had called Vikram Desai and he's apparently in India!"

Corriedale aired tonight on ITV1 at 8pm and will be available to stream on ITVX and YouTube.

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