Emmerdale<\/a> switches from 7pm to 7:30pm five nights a week pushing Corrie out of the hallowed 7:30pm slot it\u2019s occupied since the Rovers started serving hot pots to thrice-weekly hour-long instalments (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) starting at 8pm.<\/p>\n Both will go up against EastEnders<\/a>, which airs at 7:30pm (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and 8pm (Mondays and Fridays), a clear and confident message ITV is reigniting that age-old channel dispute \u2013 the battle of the soaps.<\/p>\n For years there\u2019s been a gentleman\u2019s agreement between the BBC and ITV not to annoy soap fans by stopping their favourite shows clashing unless absolutely necessary. That appears to have gone out the window, which can\u2019t help but be interpreted as a power play from Kevin Lygo et al to take advantage of a below-par EastEnders and \u2013 perhaps \u2013 kill it off.<\/p>\n ITV\u2019s soaps are in ruder health than their rival, which fans feel has been in a slump for a while, so it\u2019s no surprise the network is strengthening its position by creating \u2018a continuous soap fix\u2019 as a result of its extended news output which will run to 7:30pm from March, eating into primetime by 30 precious minutes and stealing Emmerdale\u2019s start time.<\/p>\n Surely Auntie can\u2019t sit back and do nothing, so how should it counteract its commercial counterpart\u2019s surprising shake-up?<\/p> The most obvious move would be a swift change of time-slot to get EastEnders out of harm\u2019s way and start at 7pm, preserving the equilibrium that means fans can experience all of the big three live without having to clog up the planner.<\/p>\n History has buried the fact that when \u2018Enders launched in 1985 it was in Emmerdale\u2019s 7pm slot, purposely hoping to steal the established adversary\u2019s thunder. In the days before catch-up this was seen as unfair to fans of the genre and after a few months the new kid on the block graciously stepped aside to start half an hour later.<\/p>\n Back then soaps weren\u2019t as prolific and there was room in the schedules for everyone to share the spotlight. Increasing popularity of the genre meant an increase in output, but the respectful dance that ensured they didn\u2019t consistently clash carried on \u2013 until now.<\/p>\n Rash, reactive schedule decisions aren\u2019t the Beeb\u2019s style, and it\u2019s unlikely it would jeopardise popular early-evening staple The One Show by evicting it from 7pm. However, with EastEnders under threat the corporation needs to demonstrate the support it seems to have lacked of late.<\/p>\n The much-talked about upgraded new set is now finally in use so there\u2019s no question of the BBC\u2019s long-term commitment, but creatively EastEnders feels like it\u2019s been left to chug along rather than be maintained as the speeding juggernaut it once was \u2013 and can be again.<\/p>\n Corrie\u2019s thought-provoking hate crime plot and Emmerdale\u2019s campily compelling saga of Meena the serial killer has kept people interested over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n While EastEnders has had some quick wins, such as Janine Butcher\u2019s return and the tackling of far-right extremism, it has crucially lacked a similarly long story arc to keep viewers consistently hooked in.<\/p>\n Now is the perfect time for some fuel-injected excitement to invigorate Albert Square and, more importantly, for the BBC to shout about it and remind us EastEnders still has that scrappy fighting spirit that revolutionised the entire genre back in the 1980s. The best defence is surely restoring its sense of ambition and drive.<\/p>\n ITV\u2019s new era is not without its risks, particularly messing with Corrie\u2019s start time (an angry fan petition is probably doing the rounds as we speak).<\/p>\n But the migration from live TV to streaming platforms means this might not be as big a deal as we think \u2013 is it a step closer to an inevitable world where scheduled viewing is a thing of the past and soaps \u2018drop\u2019 once a week in a boxset, as was successfully trialled during last summer\u2019s Euros and Olympics coverage? Soaps survive, and loyal fans adapt to new ways of consuming them.<\/p>\n Whatever happens next, the fact this has caused such a furore proves the continuing importance of the genre to our cultural landscape. Would anyone care this much if Love Island started half an hour later?<\/p>\n And never mind how Mick Carter will be written out, or if Phil Mitchell will become a grass for the Old Bill \u2013 how EastEnders fights back will surely be 2022\u2019s biggest doof-doof\u2026<\/p>\n Soap fan Johnathon Hughes considers the potential consequences of the biggest soap twist in decades. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10371,"template":"","categories":[2,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/how-will-eastenders-react-to-itvs-soap-schedule-shake-up-scaled.jpg",2560,1702,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/how-will-eastenders-react-to-itvs-soap-schedule-shake-up-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/how-will-eastenders-react-to-itvs-soap-schedule-shake-up-300x199.jpg",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/how-will-eastenders-react-to-itvs-soap-schedule-shake-up-768x511.jpg",768,511,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/how-will-eastenders-react-to-itvs-soap-schedule-shake-up-1024x681.jpg",800,532,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/how-will-eastenders-react-to-itvs-soap-schedule-shake-up-1536x1021.jpg",1536,1021,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/how-will-eastenders-react-to-itvs-soap-schedule-shake-up-2048x1362.jpg",2048,1362,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Soap fan Johnathon Hughes considers the potential consequences of the biggest soap twist in decades.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/10370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""eastenders\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/23490888-low_res-eastenders-october-december-2021-314ec14.jpg?quality=90&crop=17px%2C0px%2C1944px%2C1295px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"EastEnders\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n![\""EMMERDALE\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/12\/emmerdale_winter_21_22-f0d877d.jpg?quality=90&crop=20px%2C468px%2C3150px%2C2098px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"EMMERDALE\\"\/")
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