What time is Emmerdale on tonight (Friday)? Get up-to-date schedules and changes here
You don’t need to miss a minute of Emmerdale with our handy guide
The drama is ramping up again in this week’s Emmerdale as Cain faces a killer decision over Joe’s future and Victoria risks the wrath of John – and we’ve got all the answers about when you can watch it, so what time is Emmerdale on tonight, Friday, April 18?
With football, rugby and other special shows, ITV tends to shift the soap schedule round to accommodate them. But we’ve got you covered with all the up-to-date schedule changes right here.
What time is Emmerdale on tonight?
On Friday, April 18, 2025, Emmerdale will air at the usual time of 7.30pm on ITV. It’s on for 30 minutes.
For anyone who don’t want to wait, the episode is already available on streaming service ITVX. It is released there every day at 7am.
What happens in Emmerdale on Friday – Victoria meddles
Taking her role as best woman very seriously Victoria is saddened to realise John has no friends to invite to the stag do. So she decides to do something about it and sets about contacting his old army mates. Whether John will be happy about this remains to be seen, but we’re guessing not!
Meanwhile, Caleb now knows what Joe did to him and wants revenge. Only Joe sort of knows what Caleb and co did to Anthony, so they’re at something of an impasse. But Caleb has asked Cain to kill Joe – so will Cain agree? Or is Joe safe for now? And how can they move past this latest feud?
Also, Dawn and Billy face the practicalities of their split as they discuss how to move forward. Billy struggles to hold it together, but will Dawn change her mind?
Emmerdale powering ahead as schedule set to change again for 2026 ‘power hour’
In October 2024, Emmerdale announced they were going to start streaming the daily episode of the soap from 7am. Despite some concerns that it meant the soap was in trouble, coupled with lots of cast exits, it has been revealed that actually it was a great move by ITV.
Stats for the first quarter of 2025 revealed that ITVX has achieved a ‘record-breaking’ billion streams in a quarter for the ‘first time ever.’ Coronation Street and Emmerdale have raked up 124 million streams on ITVX so far this year. Soap viewing is up 35 percent in comparison to the first quarter of 2024. So it seems fans are really enjoying the 7am uploads.
It’ll soon be all change once again for ITV and Emmerdale in 2026 after the soap announced a new schedule. The soap ‘power hour’ will start from next January.
Emmerdale will continue to air five nights a week. New episodes will also drop on ITVX every morning at 7am as usual – meaning we don’t have to wait all day if we don’t want to!
However, the soap will move to a new time slot of 8pm. The Thursday double bill will also be cut to half an hour to make way for additional episodes of Coronation Street.
This ensures faster-paced, digestible episodes – a 30-minute format which has already proven popular with viewers.
Read more: Who’s leaving Emmerdale? All the cast exits, arrivals and returns
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm, with an early release on ITVX at 7am.
Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.
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