Are the Soaps On at the Weekend? Saturday, Sunday and the Catch-Up Window
Weekday evenings in Britain have a rhythm you can set a kettle by: 7pm, 7.30pm, 8pm, 8.30pm, four soaps in a row across three channels. Then Friday night ends and the rhythm stops dead.
It surprises people every time, usually at about ten past seven on a Saturday. So here is the plain version of what happens to EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks between Friday's last episode and Monday's first one — and what the two spare evenings are actually good for.
Are the soaps on at the weekend?
No. Not one of the four has a Saturday or Sunday episode. EastEnders is a Monday-to-Thursday show, Emmerdale and Coronation Street run Monday to Friday, and Hollyoaks stops after Wednesday.
That gives you a weekly count of seventeen episodes in an ordinary week, all of them on weeknights. Nothing is held back for the weekend, and nothing is shown twice on a Saturday.
What is in the soap slots on Saturday and Sunday?
Other things entirely. BBC One's 7.30pm belongs to weekend entertainment, and ITV1's 8pm hour goes to films and entertainment shows on both nights. E4 has no Hollyoaks after Wednesday, weekend or otherwise.
The practical effect: if you turn on at the usual time expecting Albert Square or the cobbles, you will land in the middle of something else. There is no later showing to wait for either.
Is there still a weekend omnibus?
Not on the main channels. The current BBC One and ITV1 weekend schedules carry no soap repeats at all, so the old habit of catching a week's worth in one Sunday sitting has moved onto the streaming services.
That is the real replacement for the omnibus. Instead of a fixed repeat at a fixed hour, every episode of the week is already waiting for you, in order, whenever you want it.
What can I catch up on at the weekend?
All of it, and the three services work slightly differently.
- BBC iPlayer — each EastEnders episode drops at 6am on the day it airs, thirteen and a half hours before BBC One shows it. By Saturday morning, Monday to Thursday are all there.
- ITVX — Emmerdale and Coronation Street go up at 7am on the day of broadcast, Monday to Friday. Five of each, free, by the time the weekend starts.
- Channel 4 streaming — Hollyoaks lands at 7am on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, twelve hours before E4.
Watch on the drop rather than at night and you are effectively a day ahead of everyone who waits for the television showing. That is also how spoilers reach social media so early.
When do the soaps come back on Monday?
| Time (UK) | Soap | Channel | Streaming drop |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7pm | Hollyoaks | E4 | Channel 4, 7am |
| 7.30pm | EastEnders | BBC One | iPlayer, 6am |
| 8pm | Emmerdale | ITV1 | ITVX, 7am |
| 8.30pm | Coronation Street | ITV1 | ITVX, 7am |
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are the full-house nights: two unbroken hours from 7pm to 9pm. Thursday loses Hollyoaks, Friday loses EastEnders as well, and then the weekend gap starts again. Next week's grid has the episode numbers.
Why does Friday already feel thin?
Because two of the four have finished by then. Hollyoaks airs three nights a week and EastEnders four, so Friday is an ITV1 evening on its own: Emmerdale at 8pm, Coronation Street at 8.30pm, nothing before or after.
Midweek football can thin things out further. When ITV1 takes a live match, the 8pm hour goes and the episodes are rescheduled — that is what happened on Wednesday 16 September, and we wrote up where the episodes went that night. Those changes are posted as they are confirmed in our updates and the nightly rundowns on the EastEnders page.
Questions readers ask
Is EastEnders on tonight if it's Saturday?
No. Monday to Thursday only, at 7.30pm on BBC One.
Can I still watch Friday's Corrie on Sunday?
Yes, on ITVX, free. It has been there since 7am on Friday.
Do the soaps ever move to a weekend?
Not in the current schedules. When a weeknight is taken by sport, the episodes move to another weeknight or go to streaming instead.
Where are the rest of your explainers?
Under Soap Guide, with weekly listings in This Week & Next Week. If you want something to fill the teatime gap, our sister site has The Chase at 5pm on ITV1.
Sources
- BBC One London schedule, Saturday 19 September and Sunday 20 September (no EastEnders, no omnibus)
- itv.com TV guide, Sunday 20 September (no Emmerdale or Coronation Street in the weekend schedule; weekday rows list them at 20:00 and 20:30)
- channel4.com: Hollyoaks (new episode from Monday 21 September)
- Coronation Street and Emmerdale Times: ITV1's 8pm 'Power Hour', the 7am ITVX Drop and What Happens When Football Moves Them
- How to Watch Hollyoaks: 7am on Channel 4 Streaming, 7pm on E4, Monday to Wednesday — Plus the Omnibus
- How to Watch EastEnders: 7.30pm on BBC One, 6am on iPlayer, Monday to Thursday