Coronation Street and Emmerdale fans will have to face news they have really been dreading since coronavirus lockdown.
For the past month, the ITV soaps have halved the number of episodes they have been airing each week.
This is because the soaps stopped filming when lockdown restrictions were announced.
Repeats
But as there’s no sign of a let-up, bosses are now admitting that they will run out of the episodes they have in the can in the next few weeks.
After that, the network will be looking at showing repeats to viewers in their vacant slots.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Festival, ITV boss Kevin Lygo confirmed that Emmerdale will remain on screens until the end of May.
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Coronation Street will stay on air until the end of June.
Resuming filming
He confirmed there are plans being put in place so they could start filming in some shape or form once lockdown restrictions are relaxed.
I don’t want Ken Barlow to get sick.
It’s likely older cast members won’t return to set for some time, and Kevin said: “I don’t want Ken Barlow to get sick.”
When the soaps are running normally there are six episodes a week. It’s not known when the shows will be able to get back to full capacity.
Early warning
Fans were preparing themselves for bad news as the Corrie actor Andy Whyment had already warned he didn’t think there would be episodes past early summer.
ITV is planning to air four specials about the soap, concentrating on legends from the past.
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