Yahoo Finance Could 'Coronation Street' extend to seven episodes a week?
Coronation Street could soon be airing seven times a week, according to one of the soap’s writers.
The ITV soap already runs for six episodes aired over three evenings a week. Now scriptwriter Ellen Taylor – who worked on the recent Sinead Tinker cancer storyline – has said it is only a matter of time before the show follows Emmerdale’s lead and is stretched across seven episodes.
Taylor told the Conversation Street podcast: “Increased volume isn’t always a good thing. It’s great for more Corrie, but is it best in the long run? I don’t know.
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“We’re never going to go back down. Emmerdale are already at seven [episodes] so you know it’s going to happen at some point.”
While Corrie fans may be delighted at the thought of even more of their favourite soap, Taylor believes storylines can suffer from increased production, as more episodes increases the call for cliffhanger endings.
She explained: “There are a lot of challenges – you need more cast and you need a bigger set.
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“When it’s six episodes a week you have to ramp everything up more for the next Monday and I think it makes the story telling more heightened... I still think Corrie maintains the balance very well, but I think because of those six episodes a week those high-octane storylines and hooks to keep the viewers there have become a more dominant feature of the process.”
And Taylor admitted other characters and plots can be sidelined during a big storyline running across one week, adding: “Some stories disappear off a cliff.”
Corrie began airing five episodes a week in 2006, and extended to six episodes in 2017.
The soap has been contacted for comment.
