Emmerdale and Coronation Street in major shake-up as ITV confirms new schedule
Coronation Street and Emmerdale have announced a major shakeup as the ITV soap schedule has been cut in half to give the popular soaps a 'streaming-friendly' pace
Coronation Street and Emmerdale are set for a massive schedule shake-up next year. At present, Emmerdale broadcasts daily at 7.30pm on ITV with a half-hour episode, and a special hour-long episode each Thursday.
Coronation Street, on the other hand, airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm for an hour. However, it has been confirmed that from 2026, both soaps will change times. Starting January 2026, there will be a soap ‘power hour’, with Emmerdale airing for half an hour each day at 8pm and Coronation Street following immediately after at 8.30pm each day, again for half an hour. This means fans will get a total of five hours a week rather than the six they are accustomed to.
The special soap schedule change will kick off in January with a huge stunt week for both soaps. The soaps will continue to be uploaded to ITVX at 7am each morning.
Coronation Street will immediately follow Emmerdale in the new switch-up(Image: Publicity Picture)
ITV’s boss Kevin Lygo revealed: “The new commissioning pattern is viewer-led. We already give more choice than ever to viewers on how they watch us through ITVX and we want to present their favourite soap to them, in the most digestible way.
“Streaming-friendly, 30 minute episodes better provide the opportunity to meet viewer expectations for storyline pace, pay-off and resolution,” reports the Mirror.
He added, “Whilst viewing is growing on ITVX, we know a significant proportion of our soaps’ audience still watch us via the schedule. This new pattern is in the DNA of the soap genre – nobody else does 30 minute drama this successfully. It creates a soap power hour that’s consistent, and easy to find in the linear schedule, for the UK’s biggest soaps.”
Emmerdale will air for half an hour every night(Image: ITV)
He 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. 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.”
Meanwhile, Coronation Street fans should brace themselves for some explosive episodes as a fire engulfs the Platts’ residence, leading to tragic consequences, while Emmerdale viewers can expect heart-stopping drama next week with a catastrophic double limousine crash.
