The 2026 World Cup is well underway now and the coverage is disrupting the normal soap schedules, including EastEnders.
This week, the schedule has been shaken up, including tonight (June 17), so you might wonder if you can watch a new episode.
Here’s what we know about the changes and which episodes the TV schedule shake-up affects.
Is EastEnders on tonight?
EastEnders is on tonight, with fans able to watch a new episode an hour later than usual.
The soap will air at 8.30pm but will stay on BBC One as it follows the Portugal v DR Congo game.
Kick-off is at 6pm with coverage starting at 5.30pm.
The World Cup also affects scheduling on Thursday with the Czechia v South Africa tie starting at 5pm, meaning the BBC news is later, pushing EastEnders to 8.30pm on BBC One.
EastEnders doesn’t air on Fridays, so that is all the disruption fans can expect this week.
While there have been some schedule changes for the BBC soap this week, the airtime hasn’t been cut short as 4x 30-minute episodes will be shown as usual.
Emmerdale and Corrie affected by World Cup schedule changes this week
Emmerdale and Coronation Street are also affected by ITV's World Cup coverage this week.
After disruptions earlier in the week, there will be no Emmerdale or Coronation Street episodes tonight because ITV will broadcast two football matches back-to-back.
Tonight, the World Cup matches available to watch on ITV1 are England v Croatia with coverage starting at 8pm and kick-off at 9pm.
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Football fans can also watch the Ghana v Panama match from 11.40pm with kick-off 20 minutes later at 12am.
Soap fans will miss out on an episode on Thursday too, however, the longer episodes on Monday and Tuesday made up for the missing slots.
After a week of disruption, Emmerdale and Corrie are back to their usual 30-minute slots on Friday, June 19 at 8pm and 8.30pm respectively.
Have you been watching the World Cup? Tell us in the comments below.
