Emmerdale and Coronation Street axe 75 jobs as episodes are slashed in huge soaps shakeup
The news comes after a number of big names stepped away from Corrie
AS MANY as 75 people will lose their jobs on Coronation Street and Emmerdale after ITV announced plans to slash its soap schedule.
The channel will make an hour less soap content a week and air the much-loved programmes as two back-to-back, 30 minute episodes amid a budget crisis.
It means 75 roles will be lost across cast, crew and writers, with redundancy talks now underway.
The teams were told last night that they needed to be on site this morning for a formal meeting, with the news reducing most to tears.
Around 600 people work across Corrie and Emmerdale.
The brunt of the job losses are likely to be felt in production.
Currently, Emmerdale airs six episodes per week, Monday to Friday with a double episode on Thursdays.
Coronation Street also airs six episodes per week, spread across Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with two episodes each night.
Now just five 30-minute episodes of each soap will air.
Under the new changes, which will begin in January 2026, Emmerdale will air for half an hour every day at 8pm, followed by a half-hour episode of Coronation Street straight after at 8:30pm.
It is being dubbed a soap “power hour”.
ITV boss Kevin Lygo said: “This new commissioning pattern will mean five hours of soaps a week, rather than the current six.
“We are conscious this will have an impact for the people who work on the soaps team.
“We will support our colleagues in ITV Studios as they work through these changes, and will do what we can to mitigate the impact on our people.”
He went on: “These changes are motivated by doing what we believe is best for the continuing success of these important programmes in the long term.
“They also create headroom in the overall programme budget for investment in programming that can help ITV grow reach in a very very competitive market.”
Insiders at the channel say it will help make both Emmerdale and Coronation Street more “streaming-friendly”.
The new structure will launch with a huge stunt on both soaps.
A source added: “Soaps are incredibly important to ITV and this is about preserving their longevity for the future.
“There has been a super squeeze in production costs and it was necessary to make changes but Corrie and Emmerdale both remain integral to ITV.”
It comes after a string of big name stars quit Coronation Street and many have called out the budget crisis which has left them struggling to make ends meet.