EastEnders and Coronation Street have seen a rise in viewing figures during the coronavirus pandemic.
With people now on lockdown in all but name due to the growing number of coronavirus cases, that gives those at home far more time for watching television.
And it seems the soaps are among the first to benefit from that.
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Strong figures
According to The Sun Monday night’s episode of EastEnders (March 23) added three million viewers on top of their average.
The soap hit a high of 9.32million with an average of 6.49million. The ratings are the highest EastEnders has seen in the last few years.
Similarly, 6.43million people tuned into Coronation Street’s first episode of the evening on ITV, which was an increase for them too.
Coronavirus lockdown
The news is likely to be bittersweet to soap bosses though who have been forced to suspend filming and drop episodes to keep up.
The government has advised everyone to work from home where possible as a result of the outbreak of coronavirus.
This means production has had to be halted on all of the soaps to keep cast and crew safe.
ITV released a statement on Sunday (March 22) confirming the news.
“ITV has sadly taken the decision to suspend production of the soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale with effect from Monday 23 March.
They continued that despite doing their best to keep filming, they now had to prioritise the cast and crew.
“Health and well-being of the production teams, actors, crew and their families is of paramount importance to us. We now feel that the time has come to stop filming.”
Meanwhile, coronavirus had already caused EastEnders to stop filming.
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Their statement read: “In light of the spread of COVID-19, after much consideration, it has been decided that filming on EastEnders will be postponed until further notice.
“The decision was made after the latest government update. We will continue to follow the latest news and advice from the World Health Organisation and Public Health England.
“We have also taken the decision to reduce the amount of episodes we broadcast each week to two.”
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