'The end of Emmerdale and Coronation Street - or are we one step away from saving the soaps?

Soaps like Emmerdale, Coronation Street and EastEndershave been on our screens much longer than most TV shows - and their sequels and prequels - could ever dream of.

Coronation Street marked its 60th anniversary in the middle of the pandemic in 2020, whilst Emmerdale celebrated 50 years on screen back in 2022. EastEnders marked its four decades on screen just a few months ago with an explosion at the Queen Vic andthe death of a much-loved character who had been it right from the start.

A staple of British TV, soaps have been enjoyed by grandparents, their children and their children's children too - but with constant new TV offerings and a rise in streaming sites like Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video - are soaps as we know it coming to an end?

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Fans might certainly be fearful that may be the case after ITV stunned viewers earlier this year when they announced that things would be changing in 2026.Currently, Emmerdale airs every day for half an hour with an hour long episode on Thursdays. Corrie airs for an hour each Monday, Wednesday and Friday - but soon all that will be changing and the ITV soaps will be broadcasting a 'power hour' - a half an hour episode of each every weekday.

This will lead to a half an hour cut each week for both soaps, meaning we will lose 52 hours of soaps a year - and that's just on ITV. If the BBC were ever to follow suit with EastEnders, or switch times, we could end up losing even more.

Of course, it wasn't always like this. When Corrie began six decades ago, it would air twice a week and it wasn't until October 1989 when bosses decided to add another episode. A fourth episode was added in 1996 and a fifth in 2002. In 2017, the soap and its fans welcomed a sixth episode each week, before the show moved to its current format in 2022.

Emmerdale was originally a daytime soap, airing two days a week. In 2000, the soap moved from three episodes to five episodes and four years later, from five episodes to six episodes in 2004. The current hour offering used to air on Sundays, before moving to Tuesdays and now to Thursdays, where it airs most weeks unless it clashes with sport.

Soap expert and resident Mirror Soaps Editor, Charlotte Tutton, has been a fan of soaps since she watched them as a young child with her parents - but things have changed dramatically since then, including the rise of streaming and early releases online.

Now, soap episodes drop at 6am (EastEnders) and 7am (Emmerdale and Coronation Street) online before they air in their usual slots in the evening on TV. This happens religiously every weekday, except when a big episode or revelation is about to be made.

"I think it's changed everything. In my opinion, I would rather we go back to evening TV and not preview in the morning. I'm all for it dropping on ITVX at the same time that it airs - and there is the convenience side of it - but I would say it's taken away the group viewership and the group interaction," Charlotte explains.

By stopping certain episodes from airing early - we know there's a huge secret about to revealed. Robert Sugden's comeback on Emmerdale... Cindy Beale unveiled as the mysterious Rose Knight on EastEnders...

However, EastEnders resident expert and Mirror TV reporter Kiesha Dosanjh believes the early release works perfect for the shows with younger audiences. She says: "With a younger audience the 6am iPlayer works perfectly - they don't watch TV like they used to with the rise of streaming and I love not having to wait all day to know what happens next. But when they delay the iPlayer release - you know it's going to be a big episode and I'll be firmly sat on my sofa at 7.30 sharp!"

The thoughts are shared amongst some soap fans, who have embraced the streaming side of soaps. Angie, 29, shares: "I like to watch soaps when they air, and I do my best to join in the live discussions, but I will admit, having them drop earlier on a streaming platform has been significantly easier. I can catch up on episodes whenever I have a moment."

Lauren, 28, adds: "I have recently started watching in the morning on ITVX or YouTube. I found a lot of my friends online watch in the morning and I felt I was missing out on a lot of the conversations around the newest episodes."

Whilst some are hopeful the changes for Emmerdale and Coronation Street will only increase viewership and keep them going for another number of decades - others are nervous the changes could affect the content offfered.

Stephanie, 42, explains: "I often have felt in the past, these one hour episodes had too much “filler” content. Going back to 30 minutes will give the soap the chance to have more focus on the bigger storylines at that moment in time."

However, it's not something Emmerdale fan Riley wants to see happen. "I am really disappointed with these changes. It's bad enough that we don't really get an hour of Emmerdale on a Thursday because there's a good 15 minutes worth of ads scattered through it, so losing another 30 minutes on top of that isn't what any of us want.

"It feels like dressing it up with a catchy title just feels disingenuous because nobody wants a "soap power hour", we want the shows we love & have watched with our families and friends for decades."

Liz, 52, agrees: "It would be good to have Corrie every day, but I’d like one episode of 60 minutes as Emmerdale has now. Thursday’s episodes tend to be exciting as a lot can happen in the hour, so I will be sorry to lose that."

Alex, 29, doesn't want to lose the "smaller, character-driven stories that make the soaps so special". They added: "The big storylines are important, but soaps are at their best when they balance that with the day-to-day moments that make the characters feel real. I’d be worried that those quieter, relatable stories might get lost when the time is cut down."

ITV have promised these changes will save soaps for years to come - and that without them, we would be putting our favourite shows at risk. But somehow I can't help but think, it'll be the fans that save the soaps - and not the schedule changes.

Teasing what's coming up for the soaps - without giving away spoilers - Charlotte reveals: "The soaps are in a great place right now! All three of them are strong. I can't give specifics away but all I'm going to say is September, October... there's some really good twists and turns. There's lots even we don't know - but what we do know and can't say, I'm really excited!"

Soap fans, watch this space!

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