British Soap Awards cancels its 2020 ceremony due to coronavirus pandemic
The British Soap Awards has confirmed that its 2020 ceremony has been cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
While other award ceremonies have chosen to delay the ceremony or take the online livestream route during this lockdown, the British Soap Awards has decided to forgo the ceremony completely this year and will instead return in 2021.
A statement reads: "In light of the latest government health guidelines and in line with our priority of safeguarding the wellbeing of everyone involved in our programmes, production of The British Soap Awards will not go ahead as planned.
Related: How EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks are reacting to coronavirus
"The awards ceremony will return in 2021. In the meantime, a brand new 60-minute programme called The British Soap Awards Celebrates 21 Years will air this Spring, narrated by Phillip Schofield."
The coronavirus pandemic has affected the soaps beyond just the Soap Awards being cancelled. Filming has been shut down across the board, and many of the soaps have now decided to reduce the number of episodes airing every week so they don't run out of new instalments (at least, hopefully they don't) in the immediate future.
That also means that timelines will go out of sync, and characters will reference days and events, including occasions such as Easter and VE Day, that won't match up with their new broadcast dates.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 has made sure Hollyoaks fans won't feel too bad about the lack of new episodes by dedicating the programme's timeslots to airing classic episodes from the soap's history, with each week having a different theme to connect them.
The information in this story is accurate as of the publication date. While we are attempting to keep our content as up-to-date as possible, the situation surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to develop rapidly, so it's possible that some information and recommendations may have changed since publishing. For any concerns and latest advice, visit the World Health Organisation. If you're in the UK, the National Health Service can also provide useful information and support, while US users can contact the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
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