Coronation Street fans are facing another schedule shake-up this week, with the soap being pulled from its usual Wednesday slot to make way for live FIFA World Cup coverage. The disruption has sparked outrage among viewers, who have taken to social media to express their frustration.
New Scheduling Pattern Disrupted
Earlier this year, ITV introduced a new “power hour” of soaps, shifting Coronation Street and Emmerdale to a consistent pattern. From Monday to Friday, 30-minute Emmerdale episodes air at 8pm, followed by 30-minute Coronation Street episodes at 8.30pm. Both soaps are also available to stream from 7am on ITVX.
However, on Wednesday, June 24, both soaps have been bumped from their slots to air live coverage of the FIFA World Cup match between Switzerland and Canada. Instead, the programmes will return for hour-long episodes on Thursday, June 25, from 8pm to 10pm. Unfortunately, there will be no episodes airing on Friday, June 26.
Fan Reaction
The schedule change has left fans fuming. Reacting on a Coronation Street Facebook fan page, one person said: “Offgs more football!” A second chimed in: “The football is ruining my evenings!” A third added: “Why can’t they put it on a football channel!”
Dramatic Week on the Cobbles
Despite the scheduling chaos, it has been a dramatic week on Coronation Street. After several months, the killer of Theo Silverton (James Cartwright) was revealed to be Sarah Platt (Tina O'Brien). Evil Theo was murdered in April after his reign of terror over Todd (Gareth Pierce) was exposed, sparking another whodunnit on the long-running ITV soap.
The list of suspects included Todd, Christina Boyd (Amy Robbins), George Shuttleworth (Tony Maudsley), Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby), Gary Windass (Mikey North), and Danielle Silverton (Natalie Anderson). Initially, police believed Summer was the killer and charged her with the crime based on substantial evidence. However, this week, a shock twist revealed that Sarah had killed Theo, despite never being included in the suspect line-up.
A flashback showed Sarah on scaffolding with a metal pole; she picked it up and hit Theo over the head, sending him falling over the edge to the ground below. Gary was then called by a panicked Sarah after she realised Theo was dead, and he helped her cover up the crime—a secret they have been keeping for weeks.
Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
