Coronation Street and Emmerdale bosses surprise fans with soap news amid cuts

Coronation Street and Emmerdale have teased some huge news ahead of a schedule change next year for the broadcaster.

It has been announced tonight that former soap star Kelvin Fletcher and his wife Liz Fletcher, both 41 – who appear together on reality TV show Fletchers ‘ Family Farm – will host a new podcast focused on both soaps. Off Script is set to launch on Friday and they will be joined by “big star soap fans” each week to talk about Corrie and Emmerdale.

The news was shared by Kelvin – known for playing Andy Sugden on Emmerdale – and Liz in a video on Instagram. It was shared in a joint post by them, ITV and accounts for both soaps. The caption teased: “Big Soap News! A brand new Vodcast, ‘ Off Script ‘ is coming this Friday! Get ready to dive into all things Corrie and Emmerdale as]Kelvin and Liz] are joined by big star soap fans each week”!

In the video message, Liz said: “Hey guys, we’ve got some exciting news. We are the new hosts of the brand new Vodcast – which is a video podcast, in case you didn’t know, of Off Script: Coronation Street and Emmerdale. Where we’re gonna be talking all about soaps and to all of the actors”. Kelvin then revealed that Claire Sweeney, whose latest soap role has been Cassie Plummer on Corrie, will be the “first special guest”.

The announcement comes just weeks on from the news of cuts to staff on the two long-running soaps ahead of a reduction in the length of some episodes. It has since been suggested that the apparent downsizing of the teams could involve 12 percent of staff being made redundant.

A source told the Mirror last month that 75 roles are expected to be made redundant out of the 600 people working across both Corrie and Emmerdale. They told us: “From 2026, and if the proposals are agreed, through consultation we would expect around 75 roles to be made redundant. ITV always looks to minimise the impact of a reduction in roles by not filling vacancies and through voluntary redundancy”.

A spokesperson for ITV said at the time: “We can’t say for sure at this stage as we will be entering into a consultation process with staff. Our aim is to achieve as many as we can through voluntary redundancy and filling vacancies”.

It had been announced prior that, from January next year, the air time of both Corrie and Emmerdale will be reduced. Fans will get a combined total of five hours a week rather than the currently scheduled six hours. The upcoming “soaps power hour” will see Emmerdale broadcast from 8pm to 8.30pm each day between Monday to Friday, with Corrie airing from 8.30pm to 9pm. Episodes will continue to be released at 7am on ITVX, before transmission that evening.

ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Kevin Lygo discussed the decision in a statement, saying: “The new commissioning pattern is viewer-led. We already give more choice than ever to viewers on how they watch us through ITVX and we want to present their favourite soap to them, in the most digestible way.

” In a world where there is so much competition for viewers ‘ time and attention, and viewing habits continue to change, we believe this is the right amount of episodes that fans can fit into their viewing schedule, to keep up to date with the shows. Research insights also show us that soap viewers are increasingly looking to the soaps for their pacey storytelling. Streaming-friendly, 30 minute episodes better provide the opportunity to meet viewer expectations for storyline pace, pay-off and resolution.

“Whilst viewing is growing on ITVX, we know a significant proportion of our soaps ‘ audience still watch us via the schedule. This new pattern is in the DNA of the soap genre – nobody else does 30 minute drama this successfully. It creates a soap power hour that’s consistent, and easy to find in the linear schedule, for the UK’s biggest soaps”.

Kevin concluded: “This new commissioning pattern will mean five hours of soaps a week, rather than the current six. We are conscious this will have an impact for the people who work on the soaps team. We will support our colleagues in ITV Studios as they work through these changes, and will do what we can to mitigate the impact on our people.

” These changes are motivated by doing what we believe is best for the continuing success of these important programmes in the long term. They also create headroom in the overall programme budget for investment in programming that can help ITV grow reach in a very very competitive market. “

Off Script launches Friday. It will be available on YouTube, ITVX, STV Player, Global Player and other podcast platforms.

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Source: Mirror