In any industry, hearing the word ‘cut’ is enough to throw everything into a panic and understandably so – it is never nice to hear that what you are working on is going to go through some big changes.
For those who work on Coronation Street and Emmerdale, it therefore must be a nerve-wracking time as ITV, under the guise of following user research and creating a soaps ‘power hour’, are effectively cutting the output of its two key shows.
This will undoubtedly impact those behind the scenes, with Metro learning from a well-placed source: ‘The move is leading to a wide range of redundancies across all departments. Staff were only told of the temporary studio shutdown yesterday afternoon, and attended a consultation meeting at 10am this morning.’
While ITV chief Kevin Lygo states that the corporation will do everything they can to support colleagues and mitigate any consequences, there is no getting away from that word, ‘cuts’.
Job losses are never anything to celebrate and few in the TV industry work harder than the teams at soaps.
Big changes afoot for the ITV soaps (Picture: Metro/ITV)
But could the move, while a difficult and anxious one, be- even if begrudgingly – a way of cementing the future of the ITV soaps?
Undoubtedly.
Hour long episodes of Coronation Street have never worked; it’s not a show that is designed for such a format and you can tell that storylines are constructed around the schedule rather than being organic.
Fans – including myself – have called for a return to half-hour, snappier episodes for years and so this is a refreshing move.
Episodes will air in the same slot every night for both Emmerdale and Coronation Street, demanding only an hour of fans’ time, which is a much more manageable investment and could see ratings rise. It’s much easier to keep up with a soap when you can reserve the same time-slot all week and know it will be more bitesize.
The freedom to watch in advance remains, with the drama continuing to drop on ITVX every morning so it fits in with the schedules of every viewer.
There is no doubt a huge element of PR spin in the selling of this from ITV, but the move is clearly rooted in logic.
When Hollyoaks cut episodes, they found their viewing figures increase and, lately, now it has found its feet in its new world, the quality of the drama feels like it has increased.
If Corrie and Emmerdale get it right – and they have extremely capable teams, so that is very likely – then this will reinvigorate them.
I was never on the doomtrain of believing the shows, the jewels of ITV’s crown and rakers of ad revenue, were close to the axe.
But longer term, if something wasn’t refreshed, they would become gradually less important.
A soap hour every night may make them event TV again but also will make watching it more pallatable as the writing and storylining will feel more fresh than forced.
It may just be losing half an hour per soap, but even this will cut out some of the chaff that the grueling schedules bring to both actor and viewer.
I am excited to see the landscape ahead once it kicks in on January 2026.
For the first time amid chat around budget cuts and cast culls – of which there clearly are some – it finally feels like ITV are declaring a positive future and place for their beloved shows.
While ramifications may initially hurt, the soaps are as valued by the UK viewing public as ever and firmly need their place in our schedules.
This action, while to some may feel drastic, could well keep the shows alive for a very long time to come.
