ITV CONFIRMS DATES FOR NEW DAYTIME AND SOAP SCHEDULE FROM JANUARY 2026

ITV have confirmed that its new daytime and soap schedule will be implemented from Monday 5th January.

From January 2026, Good Morning Britain will be extended by 30 minutes to run from 6am to 9.30am daily, and will transfer to be produced by ITV News at ITN at their base at Gray’s Inn Road in London.  

GMB will be made by a dedicated team within ITV News at ITN. This change will see ITV bring all its national news gathering into one hub, with Good Morning Britain benefitting from the journalistic and production resources already in place for national news bulletins, for the website and for digital platforms including ITVX.   

In ITV’s 2026 Daytime schedule, Lorraine will run from 9.30am-10am, on a seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year which aligns with the lead Daytime presenters who host their shows around a seasonal pattern rather than throughout the year.  During the weeks Lorraine is not on air, Good Morning Britain will run from 6am to 10am.

This Morning will remain in its 10am-12.30pm slot on weekdays throughout the year, while Loose Women will be in the 12.30-1.30pm slot, again on a seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year - the schedule it occupied for over a decade until 2016.

On Monday 5th January, the new soap schedule will be marked with Corriedale - the crossover special. From Tuesday, Coronation Street and Emmerdale will move to a new scheduling pattern, introducing a soaps power hour from Monday-Friday, with 30 minute Emmerdale episodes at 8pm, and 30 minute Coronation Street episodes at 8.30pm. Episodes will continue to drop at 7am on ITVX, before transmission that evening.

The Martin Lewis Money Show will return in the new year with an hour-long special on Tuesday 6th January at 9pm, before moving to its new regular slot of Tuesday 7:15-8pm later in the month.

ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Kevin Lygo said: “The new commissioning pattern is viewer-led.  We already give more choice than ever to viewers on how they watch us through ITVX and we want to present their favourite soap to them, in the most digestible way. 

"In a world where there is so much competition for viewers' time and attention, and viewing habits continue to change, we believe this is the right amount of episodes that fans can fit into their viewing schedule, to keep up to date with the shows.

"Research insights also show us that soap viewers are increasingly looking to the soaps for their pacey storytelling. Streaming-friendly, 30 minute episodes better provide the opportunity to meet viewer expectations for storyline pace, pay-off and resolution.

"Whilst viewing is growing on ITVX, we know a significant proportion of our soaps’ audience still watch us via the schedule. This new pattern is in the DNA of the soap genre - nobody else does 30 minute drama this successfully. It creates a soap power hour that's consistent, and easy to find in the linear schedule, for the UK’s biggest soaps.

"This new commissioning pattern will mean five hours of soaps a week, rather than the current six. We are conscious this will have an impact for the people who work on the soaps team. We will support our colleagues in ITV Studios as they work through these changes, and will do what we can to mitigate the impact on our people. 

"These changes are motivated by doing what we believe is best for the continuing success of these important programmes in the long term. They also create headroom in the overall programme budget for investment in programming that can help ITV grow reach in a very very competitive market."