ITV’s soap schedule is facing a major shake-up, as the broadcaster makes some drastic changes to how long Coronation Street and Emmerdale will air and when.
Earlier this year ITV made a drastic and permanent change to its flagship soap operas, introducing a new “soap power hour” where 30-minute episodes of Emmerdale and Corrie air back to back between 8pm and 9pm every weekday.
This reduced the weekly outputs of the two soaps – who last year came together for a one-off Corriedale crossover special – from six 30-minute episodes to five each.
But with the World Cup arriving in June and playing havoc with ITV’s viewing schedule, the channel is making even more changes that will impact the soaps.
The episodes originally scheduled to air on Friday 5 June have been pulled due to the Women’s World Cup qualifier between Spain and England, and will instead be shown on Sunday 7 June at 8pm.
Neither soap will air on Tuesday 9 June or Thursday 11 June (the former due to the Women’s European qualifier between England Ukraine, the latter due to the World Cup opening ceremony), while the episode on Wednesday 10 June will air an hour early at 7pm instead.
The soaps will instead play catch up on Friday 12 June, with two episodes of Emmerdale, then two of Corrie, airing from 8pm until 10pm.
The World Cup begins on 11 June, with the first group games taking place that day. A total of 104 matches will be played over the tournament, and you can find the full schedule of fixtures here.
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ITV and the BBC are sharing broadcasting duties once more, with ITV taking the rights to the opening match between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City on Thursday 11 June.
They’ll also show England’s opening game against Croatia in Dallas, although the BBC will broadcast the bulk of England’s knockout fixtures, should Thomas Tuchel’s side progress.
As has become custom, the final will be shown by both free-to-air broadcasters.