British Soap Awards 2020 cancelled due to 'evolving coronavirus pandemic'
The British Soap Awards have been cancelled for 2020 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement posted to Twitter, a spokesperson promised it would return “bigger and better” in 2021 but that it could not go ahead due to the current situation.
It read: "Due to the evolving coronavirus pandemic we are extremely sad to confirm that The British Soap Awards 2020 cannot go ahead as planned. We will return bigger and better in 2021.”
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In its place will be a one-off episode of highlights celebrating the best of the soap awards from the past 21 years.
— British Soap Awards (@SoapAwards) March 31, 2020
The ITV ceremony has taken place annually ever since it was founded in 1999.
Phillip Schofield has been the main host associated with the awards having presented it with former This Morning co-star Fern Britton for three years between 2006 and 2008 before going solo for the subsequent 11 years.
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The news comes as soaps including EastEnders, Emmerdale and Coronation Street have shut down filming due to the virus.
They have also changed up their schedules in order to keep the programmes on air for as long as possible while no new episodes are able to be made.
BBC One’s EastEnders previously aired four half hour episodes a week and now appears on just Mondays and Tuesdays.
Meanwhile, while Coronation Street typically showed three double bills on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, these have been cut down to half-hour instalments.
Emmerdale aired an episode every weekday and now airs a half-hour episode on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
