It’s time to say goodbye to River City as the BBC have made the decision to axe the soap after 23 years, with the final episode airing in September 2026.
Sadly, the Scottish soap will be no more as it finishes for good after a lengthy run on our screens.
But, as River City falls victim to a brutal TV axing, should other soaps be worried?
BBC Scottish soap River City falls victim to brutal axing
This week, the BBC Scottish soap River City announced that it has been axed after over 20 years on screen.
On the official River City Instagram page, a post revealed that the soap’s final scenes will air in September 2026.
The BBC is said to be focusing on funding other Scottish based shows to make up for the loss.
The social media post read: “After 20 years telling the stories of the characters who live and work in Shieldinch, we’re sorry to bring you the sad news that River City will come to an end in September 2026. We are thankful to our amazing viewers, fans, cast, crew, writers, and producers who are all a valued part of the River City community.
“Looking ahead, the BBC will increase investment in other major drama productions set across Scotland. You can read full details on the link in our bio.
“We’ll still be bringing you all the drama from River City and will be here with all the best moments and news until we plan our Shieldinch send-off. Thank you for being part of the show, and we hope you’ll continue to share your favourite moments and characters with us until then.”
Should other soaps be worried after River City end?
When a soap or drama is axed, it’s always a worry that similar shows may also be at risk. But, will other popular soap shows face the axe like the BBC axed River City?
Before River City was axed, Birmingham-based BBC daytime soap Doctors also ended for good in 2024.
Australian soap Neighbours was also axed on Channel 5 a couple of years back. However, in Neighbours’ case, the show was later picked up and given a second chance at life by Amazon Freevee. However, after two years of the reboot, it’s recently been confirmed that the soap will wrap things up once more.
With dramas becoming costly to run, viewers will no doubt be wondering if EastEnders, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, and Emmerdale will also eventually be affected.
Soaps ‘saving themselves’ with modern changes
The advantage these soaps have is that they air in primetime television slots. They have all also started airing their episodes early on streaming apps on the day of their release. This allows for flexible viewing. This means that viewers aren’t restricted to watching during the usual 7pm-9pm soap slots.
With ITVX recently bringing in the approach of early releases, it revealed that streaming for Corrie and Emmerdale has gone up by 30% on the platform in the last year. Both soaps brought in more than 300 million streams on the service in 2024.
Adding to this, ITV soaps are switching to a new schedule from 2026 which will see them cut back on weekly episodes, creating a soap ‘power hour’ every weekday.
With these soaps constantly adapting to the modern era, it’s looking like they might be around on our screens for a while yet.
Read more: EastEnders spoilers for next week: First look as Avani struggles to cope
EastEnders usually airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
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