Coronation Street and Emmerdale will return to ITV next week with special one-hour episodes

Coronation Street and Emmerdale will return to screens next week after they were pulled off air on Friday in the wake of Prince Philip‘s death.

ITV has now confirmed that both soaps will return on Monday April 12 for special one-hour episodes in order to catch up, The Mirror reports.

Emmerdale will run from 7pm-8pm with Coronation Street filling the channel’s 8-9pm time slot.

After the popular shows were pulled, fans took to Twitter to share their disappointment with some highly insensitive comments.

One social media user wrote: ‘Give it a f**king rest now. phillip died, now we want to see bloody coronation street.’

Another added: ‘They cancelled the scheduled airing of Coronation Street in England yesterday because Prince Philip died and frankly, how dare they,’

While a third joked: ‘An old man passed away. And the country mourned as one. But deep down felt a bit miffed. That Coronation street wasn’t on.’

The Royal Family announced Prince Philip’s passing in a statement Friday that read: ‘It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

‘His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. Further announcements will be made in due course. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss’.

The news of Corrie and Emmerdale’s extended air time comes after it was claimed in March that hit UK soaps have seen a significant drop in their viewing figures.

According to data published by The Mirror, Corrie’s audience has fallen by 19 per cent in the past four years while EastEnders has fell by around 37 per cent.

The numbers also showed the amount of people tuning into watch TV is down nine per cent in the first eight weeks of 2021 compared to the same time period in 2017.

As well as EastEnders and Coronation Street’s viewing figures being down, ITV soap Emmerdale also saw their numbers drop by 22 per cent in the period compared.

Writing in Broadcast ­magazine ratings expert Stephen Price said: ‘The soaps’ dominance of traditional TV appears to be on the wane, no longer impervious to challenge from the linear opposition and losing fans to the streamers.

‘With volume falling faster than overall TV viewing and the challenge of other genres more keenly felt, soaps’ all-conquering prowess is ­disappearing.’

The study also reportedly found that younger viewers had turned away from soaps in general, claiming that EastEnders lost 53 per cent of viewers aged 16-34.

Despite the fall, EastEnders and Corrie still manage to maintain overall viewing figures in the millions.