ITV have revealed their festive Christmas Day schedule as they treat fans to the return of a popular quiz show and quirky singing competition.
The channel have create a jam-packed schedule for viewers with the hotly-anticipated The Masked Singer Christmas special taking pride of place at 7:30pm.
The singing show with a twist, hosted by Joel Dommet, will return for a festive special that promises some incredible Christmas costumes.
The special will kickstart the fifth series of the show which is back once again on December 30 as celebrities from all walks of life disguise themselves to sing their hearts out.
Meanwhile popular quiz show The 1% Club is also returning for a festive special.
ITV are treating viewers to a jam-packed festive lineup with their Christmas Day schedule which includes The Masked Singer Christmas special and the return of a popular quiz show
Meanwhile popular quiz show The 1% Club is also returning for a festive special at 9pm
The contestants will attempt to answer the questions that only the top 1% of the country can get right as Lee Mack returns as host for the fun quiz show.
Airing at 9pm its set to be one the whole family can join in with at home for a bit of festive competition.
Taking to Twitter fans shared a slightly mixed reaction to the festive announcement, as the line up received contrasting reviews.
While one commented: ‘Can’t wait’ another wrote: ‘Scraping the bottom of the barrel now ITV.’
Another added: ‘The Masked Singer really doesn’t need to be 1 hour 30 mins long. It can easily be an hour’.
Another penned: ‘Definitely not on my T.V. Rubbish.’
Meanwhile a fan of the singing show wrote: ‘Can’t wait for the return of the show. Really hoping for Sally Dexter this season – an amazing singer’.
In reference to The 1% Club another added: ‘Ooh yay- love this programme’.
The singing show with a twist, hosted by Joel Dommet, will return for a festive special that promises some incredible Christmas costumes
Taking to Twitter fans shared a slightly mixed reaction to the festive announcement, as the line up received contrasting reviews
The soap Christmas specials will also air on the 25th, however fans have been left up in arms after ITV revealed that both Coronation Street‘s and Emmerdale‘s Christmas episodes will only run for half an hour, rather than the traditional hour long specials.
Emmerdale will air at 6:30pm before fans are then treated to a festive visit to Weatherfield at 7pm.
While Christmas time is usually an iconic time for the soaps, with the Christmas episode a highlight of the year, it seems as though there won’t be as much drama come the close of 2023.
Breaking traditions, the shorter episode will mark the first time since Coronation Street has aired for just 30 minutes on Christmas day since 1997 and similarly a first for Emmerdale since 2004.
Taking to Twitter the soap fans were fuming as they shared their thoughts on ITV’s appalling schedule.
One wrote: ‘Why are the soaps only half an hour on Christmas Day on ITV? Normally hour long episodes’.
A second added: ‘Wow. Pretty poor that, from both. (In my opinion)’ while a third chimed: ‘That’s horrific’.
Another speculated: ‘#Emmerdale and #Corrie must be in a mess if they aren’t on for a hour like normal. #Christmas’.
Another commented: ‘Corrie and Emmerdale only for a half and hour each that’s disgraceful’.
Coronation Street and Emmerdale fans are FUMING as ITV ruthlessly cuts the iconic Christmas Day soaps
The channel have revealed that both Coronation Street ‘s and Emmerdale ‘s Christmas episodes will only run for half an hour, rather than the traditional hour long special
Emmerdale will air at 6:30pm before fans are then treated to a festive visit to Weatherfield at 7pm, before The Masked Singer kicks off at 7:30pm
Taking to Twitter the soap fans were up in arms as they shared their thoughts on ITV’s appalling schedule
Another stated: ‘From what I can gather, Christmas day episodes of #Corrie and #Emmerdale are both half hour rather than hour long’ alongside a confused face emoji.
Another wrote: ‘Won’t be watching #itv1 this Xmas then, what a s**t schedule.’
Another added: ‘HUGE changes. ITV cuts both #Corrie and #Emmerdale to half hour Christmas Day slots for the first time in 26 years.
‘I don’t think Emmerdale has EVER had a half hour episode on the day!!’
Yet others seemed to agree with ITV’s decision as they suggested that neither soap have gripping enough storylines to compete with BBC rival EastEnders.
One explained: ‘#Corrie haven’t got a decent enough storyline going atm to give us a decent hour long Christmas episode anyway. It feels very lacklustre this year…’
A second added: ‘The ITV soaps being 30 mins each on Xmas Day makes sense. #Corrie and #Emmerdale should save their higher profile eps for later in the week when all eyes aren’t on the BBC. And, realistically, the #EastEnders Six is the year’s major plotline. So why bother competing on the 25th?’
A third wrote: ‘#Eastenders is breaking boundaries right now #Corrie and #Emmerdale could never! Just give EE all the awards!!’
Another penned: ‘ITV cutting the soaps to just 30 minute episodes each on Christmas Day. Correct decision I feel #Corrie #Emmerdale’.
A fifth added: ‘Probably unpopular opinion but I don’t think soaps should be shown on Christmas Day. Get enough of them on all the other days of the year.’
A sixth wrote: ‘If i’ve got this right for you it’s 4:40-#Strictly 6:30-#Emmerdale 7:00-#Corrie Break between 7:30 and 9:45 then the big one from #Eastenders-i’m beginning to think either Nish or Dean and yet this still could go either way! #ChristmasDay’.
Yet others seemed to agree with ITV’s decision as they suggested that neither soap have gripping enough storylines to compete with BBC rival EastEnders
Meanwhile EastEnders fans are in for a treat as the dramatic whodunnit episode is finally unveiled.
The soap has been teasing a huge revelation during its Christmas episode where viewers will find out the identity of the dead body seen in The Vic.
The BBC soap made history in an episode back in February when they teased a flash forward, but the identity of the corpse and the killer were kept secret.
In the shocking scenes, Denise (Diane Parish), Kathy (Gillian Taylforth), Linda (Kellie Bright), Sharon (Letitia Dean), Stacey (Lacey Turner) and Suki (Balvinder Sopal) were seen standing over a mystery dead body.
