Sunday night's Corrie and Emmerdale to be axed

ITV is to scrap its Sunday night episode of Coronation Street as part of a channel revamp to make weekends a soap-free zone. The half-hour show will move to 8.30pm on Fridays. Emmerdale is also being moved from Sunday nights. Viewers will get an hour-long episode on Tuesdays instead. The changes are part of a new-look, more 'user-friendly' 2008 schedule, according to ITV. News At Ten will return on January 14 in a Monday-Thursday slot, anchored by Sir Trevor McDonald, with Julie Etchingham and Mark Austin as co-presenters. Friday's bulletin will be known as The Late News and will be broadcast at 11pm, hosted by Austin. ITV plans to screen more original, hour-long dramas at 9pm on weekdays. Fridays will focus on comedy and entertainment. Simon Shaps, ITV's director of television, said: "We've responded to viewer feedback on Coronation Street and Emmerdale so that fans can catch up with their favourite soaps over fewer nights. One of the principal ideas behind these changes is to make the weekends on ITV1 feel special. "We have always been the home of Saturday night entertainment and we want to broaden that out to make the whole weekend on ITV1 something to look forward to. "This has meant a wholesale spring-clean for Friday nights with new comedy, drama and feature films to get the weekend started, and a much fresher look to Sunday evenings with entertainment shaking up the historically drama-led schedule."