received a positive boost after confirmed that the soap will undergo a new scheduling pattern from January 2026.
The long-running ITV soap was named Best Continuing Drama by judges at the recent Broadcast Awards. The soap submitted its Paul Foreman motor neurone disease episode, which the judges labelled ‘deeply moving.’
The significant boost comes just days after it was announced that and would move to a new scheduling pattern on ITV1, which includes a “soaps power hour” from Monday to Friday.
As part of the change, will air 30-minute episodes at 8pm, while will air half an hour at 8.30pm. This means both soaps will lose one episode a week under the new schedule.
In similar news, a former star had admitted that he ‘would be surprised’ if soaps like , , and were still around in 10 years.
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Coronation Street will undergo a new schedule change in January 2026 (Image: ITV)
Charlie Lawson, who played Jim McDonald on the long-running ITV soap, appeared on GB News this morning (06/02/2025) to discuss the new changes.
When asked about his thoughts, Charlie said: “It’s the fact that we all watch TV in totally different ways – I pick and choose. When I was doing we would be getting between 12 and 22 million people in viewers.”
He added: “I’m not surprised they’ve cut it down. […] I think , ITV and survive on income. It’s nothing to do with the quality of the soaps.”
“It’ll be a sadder place – there are people from my generation who grew up with these things, and you become totally involved in the storylines. It would be a great loss to Britain.”
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Charlie Lawson said he’d be ‘surprised’ if ITV soaps will be around in a decade (Image: GB News/X)
ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment, Kevin Lygo, said: “The new commissioning pattern is viewer-led. We already give more choice than ever to viewers on how they watch us through ITVX and we want to present their favourite soap to them, in the most digestible way.
“In a world where there is so much competition for viewers’ time and attention, and viewing habits continue to change, we believe this is the right amount of episodes that fans can fit into their viewing schedule, to keep up to date with the shows.
“Research insights also show that soap viewers are increasingly looking to the soaps for their pacey storytelling.”