Emmerdale axed from ITV schedule once again despite Euro 2024 conclusion
Emmerdale has been pulled from the schedule once again and fans of the ITV soap will have to wait until Wednesday evening for a double bill offering
Emmerdale will return for a double bill on Wednesday night
Emmerdale has been dropped from tomorrow’s TV schedule due to football once again.
The men’s Euro 2024 tournament may be over for another four years, with Spain beating England in Sunday’s final to be crowned the winners, but TV schedules aren’t returning to normal just yet. Fans of Emmerdale will have to wait until Wednesday evening for a double bill and their next trip to the Yorkshire Dales as Tuesday’s instalment of the ITV soap has been yanked from the schedule.
The removal from the schedule is due to ITV making room for live coverage of the latest England women’s football match, which will be broadcast from 5:30pm until 8:15pm on both ITV1 and ITVX. The Lionesses take on Sweden in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 qualifier.
Tuesday’s Emmerdale episode being rescheduled comes after soap chiefs hastily rewrote an episode to pay homage to England’s historic Euros run. Tonight, characters Cain ( Jeff Hordley ) and Moira ( Natalie J Robb ) will react to the Gareth Southgate’s men losing 2-1 to Spain.
Producer Laura Shaw expressed: “The whole team here at Emmerdale would like to send our huge congratulations to the England football team on reaching the final of the UEFA European Championship. We wish them the very best of luck for Sunday and we are thrilled to be showing our support in Monday night’s episode of Emmerdale.”
Almost 24 million people watched England’s defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 finals across the BBC and ITV. An average audience of 17.9 million watched the BBC’s coverage on all devices, peaking at 19.3 million, according to overnight ratings. Some six million people chose to watch the match from 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX, peaking with 6.4 million viewers.
Spain inflicted a second successive European Championship final defeat on Gareth Southgate ’s side in Berlin on Sunday night. The country’s first-ever final on foreign soil ended in more heartbreak as Spain triumphed 2-1 at the Olympiastadion. Substitute Cole Palmer’s superb equaliser had breathed new life into Southgate’s side after Nico Williams shook what had looked sturdy foundations 69 seconds into the second half.
ITV)
But England could not wrest control from mightily impressive Spain, with substitute Mikel Oyarzabal sliding home what proved the decisive blow four minutes from full time. The loss means England’s wait for a first major men’s trophy since 1966 goes on.
Playwright James Graham has said he will update the script of his Dear England play about Gareth Southgate to include the disappointment of the Euro 2024 final. It has already been announced that the hit play about the football manager and England’s journey to the 2022 World Cup will be turned into a TV drama for the BBC, with Joseph Fiennes reprising his starring role.
The plot is a fictionalised account of the struggles and successes of England’s football teams, based on extensive research and interviews. Asked if he was going to change the ending to reflect the drama of the Euros, following England’s final defeat to Spain on Sunday, James told BBC Breakfast: “I am. You have to, don’t you? The audience would be sat there knowing what happens in Germany, so we are going to update it to include this ending over the upcoming days and weeks.”
Discussing Southgate’s future as head coach of the national men’s team, James said: “Gareth Southgate is going to reflect on what his position is going to be but no matter what, the last eight years of English football have been remarkable. If you remember what it was like to be an England fan in 2016, when at that point we hadn’t reached a semi-final in 26 years, and here we are, we have reached three in the past six.
“Something has happened that has been completely transformational. For me personally, I didn’t need to get to the very end of that story for it to be impactful, beautiful, meaningful, emotional. We are on a journey, aren’t we? It’s not a destination, it is a journey and Gareth Southgate has laid some extraordinary tracks that will get us to that destination, that terminus at some point very soon.”
The four-part adaptation of the play will be written by Graham, and will be directed by the play’s director Rupert Goold. The drama will be produced by Left Bank Pictures, the company behind Netflix juggernaut The Crown. The play had a sell-out run at the National Theatre before it transferred to the West End last year.
