ITV in major shake-up as Emmerdale and Coronation Street taken off air

Emmerdale and Coronation Street have been wiped from ITV’s schedule. While both soaps air weekday evenings on the network, tonight’s schedule is very different.

The weekday “power hour” was introduced to offer fans consistency each week and help navigate through scheduling shake-ups, often caused by football or major events.

However, things haven’t always gone to plan, and today is no different, with both soaps not airing on television tonight. Instead, the network will provide coverage of the Manchester United vs Leeds United pre-season friendly from 7pm. The match will kick off at 7:30pm at Dublin’s Croke Park, with Michael Brown and John O’Shea providing analysis, while the broadcast will be hosted by Hugh Woozencroft, as Sam Matterface and Lucy Ward offer commentary, with Gabriel Clarke reporting pitchside,

Sharing the news on X, formerly known as Twitter, one Emmerdale fan said: “That’s it for tonight’s #Emmerdale!!! NO episode tomorrow due to the football so I’ll see you all on Thursday as usual from 8:00pm.” Another soap fan fumed: “Pre-season football on ITV?”

While a third went on to write: “Shouldn’t be on ITV1. It’s a pre-season friendly. Ridiculous. I like football but won’t watch it. Remember millions don’t like football and it’s during prime time. Shame on you!” “ITV must really be struggling for programmes if they are showing pointless friendly matches at prime time,” commented a fourth.

This week is set to be particularly interesting for Emmerdale viewers. In the fallout from Sarah accidentally killing Dr. Todd, Charity maintains her false confession to protect her.

As Charity tries to catch up with Serena, who’s helped them conceal the truth, they are interrupted by DS Ramsden – so does an exit loom for Charity?

Meanwhile, Sarah is conflicted about leaving her husband Jacob in the dark about her actions. As Joe leaves for his stag do, he’s unaware that his bride, Dawn and her ex, Billy, are planning to flee.

Billy and Dawn are intercepted by Graham, who takes them to a field, where Joe has replaced his stag do with a surprise “sten do” for everyone. As the group prepares for a clay pigeon shoot, Dawn raises her gun towards Joe, leaving Billy nervous – but could she kill Joe?

Jimmy and Nicola discover the B&B is in financial distress, so they pin their hopes on a new haulage deal. Things get worse as Ruby orchestrates a robbery of Jimmy’s shipment to force him to sell the business to her and Caleb.

As Ruby blackmails Kev over his attack on Billy, Kev destroys Caleb’s laptop to get rid of the evidence. Later, Billy’s shocked when Kev admits he was the attacker, and Ruby and Caleb knew about it.

Tensions rise as Caleb goes back on his word and refuses to help Billy escape until Dawn and Joe’s wedding, determined to ruin Joe’s big day. Elsewhere, Mack and Ross form a truce, and Lewis suggests that Nicola and Jimmy renew their vows.

Across the Pennines in Manchester, Corrie fans have pleaded with bosses as yet another murder storyline kicks off. Just last week, viewers were introduced to Richie, the cousin of Tim Metcalfe. Richie was staying with Tim, but he later noticed he’d left his wallet at home, and when he returned from collecting it, his shirt had residues of blood on it.

It later emerged that Richie had been charged with the murder of his wife. However, viewers were not happy. “Why bring Tim’s cousin in just for a murder storyline? It’s like they’ve run out of ideas for Tim & Sally and can’t let them be happy,” fumed one. A second added: “Can @Itvcorrie stop inventing murders, crimes, etc. for Kit and Lisa to investigate, etc. They could have scenes with neighbours, the factory lot, pub goers, the list goes on and on.”

Emmerdale and Coronation Street will resume on Thursday.