A Coronation Street star has called the loss of an episode of the soap a week ‘devastating’, revealing the cast are ‘tremendously worried’ about its future.
Earlier this week, ITV revealed huge changes coming to both Corrie and Emmerdale, with a reduction of episodes and a new schedule coming into effect from January 2026.
It will see the total hours of soap action reduce from six hours a week to five, with Corrie also reverting to five 30-minute episodes each weeknight instead of its current hour-long instalments on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
ITV bosses said the changes were being made after audience research found it would better reflect the way people want to watch soaps.
While it is believed the cast will not be affected by the reported 75 job cuts caused by the changes, one star has spoken out against the move, claiming there is a feeling the soaps are being ‘sidelined’.
They told The Sun: ‘Losing the primetime 7pm and 7.30pm slots in the schedule, losing those hallmark hour-long episodes, it all adds up to a feeling that we’re are being sidelined and it’s devastating.
‘We’re all tremendously worried. We understand 30-minute episodes will whip along and feel exciting and cut some of the waffle but some fans love that waffle.
‘They feel like the characters are their friends and so those seemingly duller moments in the cafe are important. It can’t all be trauma and stunts and affairs and deaths. And we hate the idea that people can just binge five episodes at the weekend.’
The unnamed star continued: ‘What’s the point in cliffhangers and tense endings that people can discuss with their friends the next day and look forward to the next episode. It’s stopping us being event TV and turning us into background noise.’
The changes will see Emmerdale will air at 8pm, followed by Corrie at 8:30pm each weeknight in what has been dubbed as a ‘power hour’ by the network’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Kevin Lygo.
Lygo also said that the decision had been made to provide a more ‘streaming-friendly’ output, though did address that ‘whilst viewing is growing on ITVX, we know a significant proportion of our soaps’ audience still watch us via the schedule.’
A source told Metro that the move ‘is leading to a wide range of redundancies across all departments’.
The majority of these job losses are believed to be across the individual shows’ production teams.
Metro understands that around 600 people are employed across the two production sites, with 12.5% (75) expected to be made redundant.
An ITV spokesperson told us: ‘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.’
