Wimbledon and a jam-packed summer of sports have forced the popular BBC soap to leave its usual weekday time slot.
Where has EastEnders gone? is a common soap opera fan query in response to BBC’s Wimbledon coverage. The long-running soap will be moved to BBC Two for the two-week period that includes the renowned tennis championships.
The opening matches were played the week of Monday, June 27, and the competition will terminate after this weekend’s finals. It really airs again on BBC One on Tuesday, July 12, rather than Monday, when England’s match vs Norway for the Women’s Euro 2022 competition takes precedence.
The EastEnders schedule has remained the same during this time. Episodes will continue to air Monday through Thursday at 7.30 p.m.
Before the Euros are over, more EastEnders episodes are likely to be impacted by later matches from the competition. The Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, another event on the BBC showreel, may also cause problems. The broadcaster also chose to have each week’s episodes debut on iPlayer in an effort to reduce misunderstanding.
This follows the same choice made during the men’s Euros and Tokyo Olympics last summer. The four episodes will begin to release on Mondays starting on June 27 and will continue through mid-August, providing viewers the freedom to pick when and where to watch.
“With such a full summer of sport ahead, box setting all four episodes again this year feels like the perfect option to give EastEnders viewers to select when and where they want to receive their weekly fix from Albert Square,” said Chris Clenshaw, executive producer of EastEnders. This is the ideal approach to guarantee that nobody has to miss out on the exciting summer that lies ahead.
