EastEnders and Waterloo Road dropped from BBC schedule in major shake-up

EastEnders, Waterloo Road and Silent Witness have all been dropped from the BBC's schedule on Tuesday (January 17) in a major shake-up.

Instead of the regular soaps and drama, BBC1 will be airing football, with Match of the Day live showing the FA Cup game between Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Usually, from 7.30pm on a Tuesday evening, EastEnders airs, followed by Waterloo Road at 8pm and then Silent Witness at 9pm.

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However because of the sports match, soap and drama fans will be left disappointed.

The usual Tuesday night schedule will instead air on Wednesday (January 18), with EastEnders, Waterloo Road and Silent Witness in their respective time slots of 7.30pm, 8pm and 9pm.

The change in schedule follows weeks of disruption to both the BBC and ITV last year when coverage of the World Cup in Qatar took priority.

Last year was all change for soap fans, who had to quickly adjust to a complete overhaul of the traditional time slots.

Previously, Emmerdale had aired each night on ITV1 at 7pm, with a Coronation Street double bill on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm and 8.30pm.

Meanwhile, EastEnders aired weeknights apart from Wednesdays.

Following the shake-up, which took place in March last year, Emmerdale was bumped back to 7.30pm, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.

And Coronation Street was given three hour-long episodes at 8pm on its original days.

EastEnders arguably had the biggest shake-up, with episodes now airing Monday to Thursday and not on Fridays.

Waterloo Road made a grand return to screens earlier in January after the BBC confirmed it would be reviving the much-loved series.

The school-based show originally ran between 2006 and 2015, introducing countless stars to audiences.

Stars of the original series Adam Thomas, Katie Griffiths and Angela Griffin were confirmed to be returning as their characters Donte Charles, Chlo Charles and Kim Campbell.

Meanwhile, Adam's niece Scarlett – daughter of his brother Ryan Thomas and Corrie actress Tina O'Brien – was announced to be playing his on-screen daughter.

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