The soap schedule this week has been thrown into chaos to make way for the coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2022, with Emmerdale and EastEnders fans set to be affected.
The controversial Qatar football tournament is airing on both the BBC and ITV as the world’s teams for head to head in the group stages.
While football fans will be on tenterhooks as the matches unfold this week, the prospect is less exciting for soap fans, who are set to see their favourite shows move times and channels.
While Emmerdale typically airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV, the Dales soap will now move to the earlier time of 7pm on ITV on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
While the episodes are typically half an hour each, fans can look forward to a bumper batch midweek instead, as the Yorkshire village is set for high drama this week.
Meanwhile, on the BBC, the EastEnders broadcast will also be affected by the World Cup coverage.
While the Walford-based episodes will continue to be 30 minutes long, there will be no instalment of the soap on Friday.
The World Cup has also prompted a channel switch for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, as the soap moves to BBC Two as opposed to BBC One.
The soaps are not the only channels facing a schedule shake-up due to the football tournament, as ITV have also altered the broadcast of Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women this week.
Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women will be off air for the majority of this week as the football coverage continues throughout the day.
This Morning typically airs at 10am until 12.30pm before Loose Women’s hour-long slot until 1.30pm.
However, these will not air Tuesday through Thursday to make way for the coverage of the football games on ITV1.
Niall Sloane, ITV Director of Sport, said of the changes: “The World Cup is now in focus and we’re delighted to be able to bring viewers coverage of what promises to be some of the standout games of the tournament across ITV channels and our new free streaming service ITVX, which launches this autumn.
“We’re kicking-off with the opening match and will show England’s group stage match against the USA as well as games involving tournament favourites such as Brazil, France, Argentina, Spain and the Netherlands. Plus, we have picks one and two of the round of 16 and pick one of the quarter-finals.
“The ITV Sport team is now looking forward to bringing viewers the very best of the first winter World Cup.”
