Unions have hit out at ITV’s plan to cut 52 episodes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale from January next year.
The broadcaster announced yesterday that it was ending hour-long episodes of both shows, which will air at 8pm and 8.30pm, reducing their combined weekly hours from six to five.
Since March 2022, ITV has aired 60-minute long episodes of Coronation Street on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8pm.
Meanwhile, 30-minute episodes of Emmerdale play out at 7:30pm every weekday, apart from on Thursdays when it extends to an hour.
ITV managing director of media and entertainment Kevin Lygo vowed to “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.”
He said the move would free up the 7pm hour and “create headroom in the overall programme budget for investment in programming that can help ITV grow reach in a very very competitive market”.
While both soaps’ regular casts will be protected, actors’ union Equity voiced worries about supporting players and described the move as “a significant loss for our members in the North East and North West”.
Both Equity and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain highlighted that ITV’s decision escalated a difficult time in continuing drama, with the BBC axing both Doctors and Holby City in recent years and Channel 4 scaling back Hollyoaks.
Equity’s new Deputies in Continuing Drama committee will be addressing the issue.
The union’s TV official Natalie Barker said: “We will work collectively to defend continuing drama and campaign for commitments from the broadcasters to secure the long-term future of these programmes which are so crucial to the health of UK production.”
WGGB chair Emma Reeves said ITV’s decision represented “fewer opportunities for work for our members and a further blow to continuing drama”.
She said the union is seeking clarity from ITV and talking to affected members as “a matter of urgency”.
