Emmerdale and Coronation Street stars enter redundancy talks over soap shake-up

ITV has dropped the bombshell that it’s entering talks about potential job cuts with its soap staff, following the recent shake-up of Coronation Street and Emmerdale’s airing schedules. The broadcaster broke the news on Tuesday, revealing a major revamp for next year that will see fans enjoying five hours of soap drama per week instead of the current six.

Emmerdale is set to grace our screens at 8pm every evening for 30 minutes, with Coronation Street hot on its heels at 8:30pm, creating what ITV is branding as the soap ‘power hour’.

This schedule shift means ITV will be trimming down its soap teams, and a TV insider has spilled to the Mirror that up to 12 percent of the workforce could face redundancy. They have revealed that out of the 600-strong crew working on both soaps, about 75 might find their roles axed.



Coronation Street employees are among those who could be made redundant
Coronation Street employees are among those who could be made redundant

“From 2026, and if the proposals are agreed, through consultation we would expect around 75 roles to be made redundant,” they shared. ITV is reportedly aiming to soften the blow by leaving vacancies unfilled and offering voluntary redundancies.

An ITV spokesperson has commented, “We can’t say for sure at this stage as we will be entering into a consultation process with staff. Our aim is to achieve as many as we can through voluntary redundancy and filling vacancies.”

Emmerdale fans are accustomed to their daily half-hour dose of drama, along with a special hour-long episode every Thursday, while Coronation Street enthusiasts tune in for an hour of action at 8pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. However, come 2026, there’s going to be a shake-up in the schedule!

Kevin Lygo, ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment, has confirmed that this change is all about catering to viewers’ preferences.

“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,” he explained.



Emmerdale and Coronation Street stars enter redundancy talks over soap shake-up
ITV could lose 12 percent of its soap workforce amid upcoming cuts

The soap landscape is competitive, and with audience viewing habits evolving, ITV hopes to align with the ideal quantity of episodes that fans can conveniently incorporate into their routine. “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.”

Lygo added another crucial point: “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.”

View news Source: https://www.ok.co.uk/tv/emmerdale-coronation-street-stars-enter-34613960

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