ITV1 has just announced major scheduling changes for w/c 18 July.

This is the week when The Bill moves to a new once-a-week 9pm slot, whereupon it upgrades to HD, a new title sequence and theme music. And to hammer that point home the channel have, confusingly, scheduled two episodes of the drama, running over Thursday and Friday.

In addition, it’s revealed that Coronation Street is to lose its traditional Wednesday at 7.30pm slot. Instead the soap will TX on Thursday nights at 8.30pm, while Emmerdale will screen two episodes also on Thursday, and its regular Tuesday hour-long episode will be cut back to 30 minutes.

An ITV spokesman said: “Coronation Street will make a move from Wednesday to Thursday nights on ITV1 from July 23 as part of a change to the schedule to reflect ITV’s contracts for the Champions League, FA Cup and England internationals, which will see ITV1’s live football broadcast on Wednesday evenings.  In addition, two separate episodes of Emmerdale will be broadcast on Thursdays from the same date.   We’re delighted that Thursday evenings on ITV1 will be a great showcase for soap from Weatherfield and the Woolpack.”