By Chris King • Published: 28 Jan 2022 • 2:02
Earlier this week, ITV bosses announced a major shake-up in their times. In what could develop into a war of the soaps, they have decided to move Emmerdale, and Coronation Street, into a direct time clash with BBC’s East Enders. By the channel adding a full one-hour news spot from 6.30pm, the ITV soaps will be pushed to a time slot directly in competition with East Enders. With the Beeb’s soap suffering in the ratings, and top stars bailing out, fans of the show are worried this move by ITV could actually kill the Albert Square soap off. Tim Davie, the BBC chief, however, whilst addressing the House of Commons’ Accounts Select Committee, seemed to not be concerned, saying, “We’re not immune from competitive pressure, let’s be honest about it”. Adding, “And you may have a marginal impact or an impact during that hour, but we’re confident that the overall case for the EastEnders development remains strong”. A new set for the soap has allegedly run £87m over budget, and Davie defended this as he commented, “That whole set wasn’t going to work anyway so it needed investment. We’re also confident about EastEnders as a strand; we’ve just put a new showrunner in there”. Emmerdale will now move to its new 7.30pm slot. In 2022, the soap celebrates its 50th anniversary. Coronation Street meanwhile will move its three hourly episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, to 8pm. This pits the ITV shows into time spots directly against East Enders every weekday. It has been a very one-sided affair recently, with Corrie and Emmerdale both having millions more viewers each night than East Enders. In fact, the BBC soap dropped to as little as 2 million viewers at one point recently, before fighting back. “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”, commented John Whiston, ITV’s head of continuing drama, as reported by thesun.co.uk.
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Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com
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