Emmerdale targets EastEnders

Euro 2004 has meant that, several times, EastEnders has been scheduled head-to-head against Emmerdale. And it's not been good news for the BBC, with EastEnders seeing audiences drop by several million.

Now, in an interview with MediaGuardian (free registration required), John Whiston, ITV Head of Drama, says that he wants Emmerdale to take the position as the nation's number-two rated soap, behind Coronation Street:

"Emmerdale seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment. EastEnders may come storming back, [but] there's also a chance things might spiral further into decline. A couple of years before the end of Brookside you would never have thought it was going to go down the pan. It happened really dramatically."