A huge shake-up at ITV will see Emmerdale and Coronation Street moved to a different time.
The schedule change for the soaps will kick off from March as the channel expands its news programme for an hour between 6.30 and 7.30pm.
This means Emmerdale will be screened at 7.30pm from now on and Coronation Street will broadcast hour-long episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm.
ITV announced the news on Monday morning, with the individual official Twitter accounts of both popular programmes confirming the news.
The Emmerdale tweet read: "Schedule Change: Emmerdale is moving! From March, you can watch us every weekday at our brand-new time of 7.30pm."
The Coronation Street Twitter page also announced: "Coming This March: Hour long Coronation Street episodes at 8pm on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays! #Corrie @itv @WeAreSTV @emmerdale."
John Whiston, ITV's Managing Director of Continuing Drama said: "With Coronation Street bursting at the seams with fantastic story and character, the new format gives the show a brilliant new canvas on which to shine. And Emmerdale will do what it does best in this new time slot where viewers can continue to enjoy the dramatic goings on in the Dales."
ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment, Kevin Lygo added: "The nation’s two most popular continuing dramas, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, are fundamental to the success of ITV, and we know that, as with all dramas, viewers increasingly watch them whenever, and however they choose. The new scheduling means that viewers can watch them live on TV in one go in a continuous soap fix, as well as on ITV Hub where they are regularly in the most watched shows every month."
Emmerdale are celebrating their 50th anniversary later this year, and bosses previously teased a whole month of drama as the show marks the occasion.
Speaking to The Mirror and other press, the show's producers teased: "We’ve been thinking about the 50th all the time.
"I think we probably held back some of our big ideas while Covid was so prominent in our lives because we didn’t know what we could achieve. But Super Soap Week has really shown us what we can do."
They added: "And as brilliant as stunts are - we’ve got to have the stories to back up those stunts. We can blow up anything but if there’s no story behind it - what’s the point? Our focus at the moment is to really build those stories so when we get to our Golden Month of Celebration, we’ve got secrets that the viewers are desperate to be revealed."
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