Coronation Street and Emmerdale fans are left fuming as ITV ruthlessly cut beloved Christmas Day soaps
Soap fans are in uproar after ITV released the TV schedule for Christmas Day.
The channel has revealed that the Christmas episodes of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale will be just half an hour, instead of the traditional hour-long specials.
Emmerdale airs at 6.30pm before fans are then treated to a festive visit to Weatherfield at 7pm, before The Masked Singer kicks off at 7.30pm.
While the Christmas season is usually an iconic time for soap operas, with the Christmas episode being the highlight of the year, it doesn't seem like there will be as much drama at the end of 2023.
The shorter episode breaks with tradition and marks the first time since Coronation Street has aired for just 30 minutes on Christmas Day since 1997, and also a first for Emmerdale since 2004.
Coronation Street and Emmerdale fans are SMOKING as ITV ruthlessly cuts the iconic Christmas soaps
The channel has revealed that the Christmas episodes of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale will be just half an hour, instead of the traditional hour-long special.
On Twitter, soap fans were furious as they shared their thoughts on ITV's horrendous schedule.
One wrote: 'Why are the soaps only on ITV for half an hour on Christmas Day? Normally hour-long episodes'.
A second added: 'Wow. Pretty bad that, from both of them. (In my opinion)', while a third chimed in: 'That's horrifying'.
Another speculated: '#Emmerdale and #Corrie must be in trouble if they don't work as normal for an hour. #Christmas'.
Another commented: 'Corrie and Emmerdale only half an hour each, that's a shame.'
Another said: 'From what I can understand the Christmas Day episodes of #Corrie and #Emmerdale are both half an hour instead of an hour' alongside a confused face emoji.
Another wrote: 'I won't be watching #itv1 this Christmas then, what's the schedule.'
Another said: 'BIG changes. ITV is reducing both #Corrie and #Emmerdale to half-hour on Christmas Day for the first time in 26 years.
'I don't think Emmerdale has EVER had a half hour episode on that day!!'
Emmerdale airs at 6.30pm before fans are then treated to a festive visit to Weatherfield at 7pm, before The Masked Singer kicks off at 7.30pm.
On Twitter, soap fans were in an uproar as they shared their views on ITV's horrendous schedule
Still others appeared to agree with ITV's decision, as they suggested neither soap has enough storylines to compete with BBC rival EastEnders.
One explained: 'Surely #Corrie doesn't have a decent enough storyline to give us a decent hour long Christmas episode. It feels very lame this year…'
A second added: 'It makes sense that the ITV soaps on Christmas Day are 30 minutes each. #Corrie and #Emmerdale should save their high profile eps for later in the week when all eyes are not on the BBC. And realistically, the #EastEnders Six is the biggest storyline of the year. So why bother joining us on the 25th?”
A third wrote: '#Eastenders is breaking boundaries at the moment. #Corrie and #Emmerdale could never do that! Just give EE all the prizes!!”
Another wrote: 'ITV has reduced its Christmas Day soaps to just 30 minute episodes. Right decision I think #Corrie #Emmerdale'.
A fifth added: 'Probably an unpopular opinion but I don't think soaps should be shown on Christmas Day. Make sure you have enough of it on all the other days of the year.'
A sixth wrote: 'If I've got this right it's 4.40pm – #Strictly 6.30am – #Emmerdale 7.00am – #Corrie Break between 7.30am and 9.45am then the big one from #Eastenders- I'm starting to think of Nish or Dean, and yet this could still go either way! #ChristmasDay'.
Still others appeared to agree with ITV's decision, as they suggested neither soap has enough storylines to compete with BBC rival EastEnders.
Meanwhile, EastEnders fans are in for a treat as the dramatic whodunnit episode is finally revealed.
The soap has revealed a huge revelation during its Christmas episode, which will see viewers discover the identity of the dead body on display at The Vic.
The BBC soap made history in an episode in February when they teased a flash forward, but the identities of the corpse and the killer were kept secret.
In the shocking scenes, Denise (Diane Parish), Kathy (Gillian Taylforth), Linda (Kellie Bright), Sharon (Letitia Dean), Stacey (Lacey Turner) and Suki (Balvinder Sopal) were seen standing over a mysterious corpse.