ITV has confirmed that long-running soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale will be forced off air in early summer due to the coronavirus shutdown.
Filming of both soaps stopped last week as the government ordered a UK-wide lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of the killer disease.
From Monday, Corrie will be reduced from six episodes a week to three, while Emmerdale will also go down to three.
The move will keep both soaps on air until June or July, based on material already filmed, and then there will be an enforced break.
Corrie is the world's longest-running soap opera and is facing the first interruption to its broadcast in its 60-year history.
Should filming resume in three months' time, as is currently projected, the soaps could be back on air some time in September.
Neil Wilkes
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