Should soaps be taken off air for the football? Take our poll and have your say
Coronation Street, Emmerdale and EastEnders have been the country's flagship soaps for decades so is it unfair that they are taken off air just for the football?
Many soap fans have left furious by the constant schedule changes (Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
Coronation Street, Emmerdale and EastEnders have been the country’s flagship soaps for decades now, and millions of viewers have become accustomed to tuning in several times a week to catch the latest dramas dominating the long-running shows.
With the World Cup in full swing, it seems fair to say that no genre of television seems to be more affected by the global football tournament than that of the humble soap, with those wishing to catch up on all the latest from Walford, Weatherfield and Emmerdale forced out of their usual schedules owing to whatever match comes next.
Some might argue that since the advent of catch-up and streaming, viewers have usually been able to choose when it watch the latest episode on streaming and catch up services but bosses only ever release the episode on the day it is set to be broadcast. So, if there is no EastEnders on a Tuesday night, fans will, again, have to wait.
Mirror readers debate whether it’s okay for the soaps to be pulled off air
Taking to social media, one fan recently raged: “It does my head in that things get moved for football. We are not all fans.”
Another commented: “I do not understand in an age of stream everything why do soaps have to miss days? Surely boomers like me can stream.
“Please ITV can we upload episodes onto ITVX at the beginning of the week and not have this malarkey going on!” asked somebody else. “It’s very stressful for people like me who are autistic and need routine.”
“Can’t we just miss the soaps only when England plays,” another viewer suggested, as someone else admitted they were “sick” of the football.
“Football should go on the sports channels because that’s what it’s classified as, so put it on there, you’re going to get the same figures,” said one person.
EastEnders, which began in 1985, started out as a twice-weekly serial but for more than a decade has broadcast four times a week, with viewers usually tuning in Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday for all the latest with the Slaters, the Mitchell and all the other residents of Albert Square.
Similarly, when Coronation Street, the world’s longest-running TV soap, began all the way back in 1960, it was broadcast twice a week but has seen that figure change dramatically in the years since.
Fans are not even able to stream the episodes because the release is delayed until the day of broadcast(Image: ITV)
In the early 2000s, it was aired four times a week and then five during the 2010s before being bumped up to six episodes a week towards the end of the decade.
Amid ITV budget cuts that were announced last year, Coronation Street was reduced to five weeknight slots of half an hour each, all launched as part of a “soap power hour” with Emmerdale, and the two came together for the Corriedale crossover to mark the occasion.
