Emmerdale will only air six episodes a week in huge schedule shake-up

15 August 2019, 13:04

Emmerdale has announced a scheduling change
Emmerdale has announced a scheduling change. Picture: ITV

Emmerdale has confirmed a schedule change after four months of airing seven episodes a week.

As we head into the Autumn months, Emmerdale has now revealed a shake up in their scheduling which is set to disappoint some fans. 

Back in April, the ITV soap started airing seven episodes a week from Monday to Friday - with an extra instalment on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

But starting the week commencing August 26th, Tuesdays will go back to having just one episode.

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On Tuesday August 27, after the single 30 minute show, it will be followed by Save Money: Good Health at 7.30pm and Love Your Garden at 8pm.

This isn’t the first time Emmerdale bosses have increased the output over summer, but they have previously extended Tuesday's edition into an hour-long special.

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This year, the extra episodes have run on for a much longer period of time and coincided with major storyline such as the demise of paedophile Maya Stepney and the recent fire at the Sweet factory, which tragically killed Frank Clayton.

Elsewhere in the show, viewers were in tears earlier this week when Debbie Dingle said goodbye to the farm as actress Charley Webb takes some time off on maternity leave.

In emotional scenes aired on Tuesday, Debbie headed off to Scotland along with her young son, Jack while her daughter Sarah decided to stay put. 

During a heart-to-heart with mum Charity (Emma Atkins) Debbie teased that she might never return, explaining: “I can't say if I will be back, otherwise there would be no point going if I could."

Charley – who’s played the popular character since 2002 – temporarily quit the ITV soap so she could enjoy some time with her newborn as well as her husband Matthew Wolfenden.

Announcing the exciting news she had given birth at the end of July, Charley posted a black and white picture of her newborn's baby grow which had ‘Baby wolf’ written on it. 

She wrote: "BaByWoLf#3 has joined the crazy gang. We’re in a bubble of newborn’ness heaven."