Soap rivals EastEnders and Coronation Street are set to go head-to-head in a rare scheduling clash during the World Cup. ITV has scheduled a double bill of its drama on 23 June at 19:30 BST, with the last half hour overlapping with the BBC One soap. This marks the first time in over a decade that the two shows have directly competed.
With both ITV and the BBC sharing the rights to broadcast World Cup matches, soaps are being moved around schedules to accommodate the games from Brazil. A BBC insider reportedly described the clash as 'unnecessarily aggressive scheduling' on ITV's part, accusing the broadcaster of deliberately extending its show into EastEnders' established 20:00 slot.
However, ITV denied the claim, stating that the schedule was forced by the football tournament. 'We have two World Cup matches that day so that's where it is,' a spokeswoman said. A BBC spokeswoman declined to comment further.
The schedule changes will also see EastEnders clash with ITV's Emmerdale, though they have frequently overlapped. Some episodes of both soaps, along with Coronation Street and BBC One's Holby City, will be scrapped altogether for the football.
Although the BBC and ITV usually have annual rows over scheduling of Saturday night entertainment, Sunday night drama, and Christmas Day viewing, direct competition between EastEnders and Coronation Street is rare. The last time they directly competed was in August 2001, when EastEnders added an extra episode. In December 2010, a re-broadcast of Coronation Street's first episode aired against EastEnders, attracting 6.7 million viewers compared to EastEnders' 8.8 million.
