ITV slashes Coronation Street and Emmerdale episodes in new schedule shake-up amid 'budget crisis'

The broadcaster has announced that the amount of episodes aired per week of each soap will be slashed. Instead, both soaps will be involved in a new “soap power hour” Mondays through Fridays from January 2026.

Currently, Emmerdale airs four 30-minute episodes and one-hour long episode per week, while Coronation Street currently airs three hour-long episodes per week. In the new schedule, Emmerdale will air a 30-minute episode at 8pm on weeknights followed by a 30-minute Coronation Street episode at 8.30pm.

This means that each show will air around 30 minutes less content than the current schedule. Bosses have promised that the new scheduled will be "marked in spectacular style", with Corrie and Emmerdale set to air an ambitious, never before seen stunt as part of a week of special episodes".

ITV says that the decision was partly motivated by the rise in viewers catching up on their streaming platform ITVX. Bosses confirmed that episodes will continue to be uploaded to the service at 7am before airing on ITV that night.

ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Kevin Lygo said: "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. In a world where there is so much competition for viewers' time and attention, and viewing habits continue to change, we believe this is the right amount of episodes that fans can fit into their viewing schedule, to keep up to date with the shows.

"Research insights also show us that soap viewers are increasingly looking to the soaps for their pacey storytelling. Streaming-friendly, 30-minute episodes better provide the opportunity to meet viewer expectations for storyline pace, pay-off and resolution.

"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."

Kevin admitted the upcoming changes will "have an impact for the people who work on the soaps team". He added: "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."

The move amid rumours of major budget cuts at Corrie and Emmerdale. Several actors have either been written off or have chosen to leave Coronation Street, with stars such as Sue Cleaver (Eileen Grimshaw), Colson Smith (Craig Tinker), Paddy Beaver (Max Turner) and Charlotte Jordan (Daisy Midgeley) among those departing the cobbles later this year.

Other stars who have announced their departure from Coronation Street include Sue Devaney (Debbie Webster) and Shelley King (Yasmeen Nazir).