ITV Announces New Soaps Schedule For 2026

ITV has announced that from January 2026, Coronation Street and Emmerdale will move to a new scheduling pattern on ITV1, introducing a soaps power hour from Monday-Friday, with 30 minute Emmerdale episodes at 8pm, and 30 minute Coronation Street episodes at 8.30pm. Episodes will continue to drop at 7am on ITVX, before transmission that evening.

The start of the 2026 schedule will be marked in spectacular style, as both soaps embark on an ambitious, never before seen stunt as part of a week of special episodes.

The new schedule chimes with research insights that show 30 minute episodes attracted higher audiences in 2024, and deliver more digestible installments of continuing drama that better fits with changing viewer habits.

Coronation Street and Emmerdale are the UK's biggest soaps with a combined weekly reach of over 8 million viewers. Both soaps are in blistering form and have big stunt storylines in February, with an action packed month on the cobbles ahead, which kicked off with the mysterious fire last night at the Platt's house which threatens to destroy much more than bricks and mortar. Emmerdale will also unleash a heart-stopping storyline, filmed over a series of night shoots, centred on a fateful night that brings two limousines into danger, with one left teetering on a treacherous frozen lake.

The changes ensure that ITV remains the premiere home of soap, as the commissioning broadcaster that backs the genre more than anyone else in the market.

As part of the drive to bring the soaps to the biggest possible audiences, however they choose to watch, ITV launched a new dedicated home for soap on ITVX in 2024, and in 2025 will be pledging additional marketing support, with the aim of maintaining Coronation Street and Emmerdale’s leading position into the future.

www.itv.com