Emmerdale April 30 Steph composition

The drama is ramping up again in this week’s Emmerdale as John tries to cover his tracks over Nate, and Steph prepares for surgery  – but at what time is Emmerdale on tonight, Wednesday, April 30?

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 Tuesday, April 29, 2025, Emmerdale will air at the usual time of 7.30pm on ITV.

The episode is already available on streaming service ITVX. It is normally released there every weekday at 7am.

Ruby and Steph at the doctor's in Emmerdale
 Will Steph go through with the operation? (Credit: ITV)

What happens in Emmerdale on Wednesday – Steph goes for surgery

Having lied to her parents that she is going on holiday, Steph actually heads to the plastic surgery clinic. She is determined to remove all trace of Anthony from her face.

But back at home, Caleb and Ruby have worked out she is lying and have found the emails on her computer saying where she really is. As they race to the clinic to stop her, can they get there in time? And will Steph be talked out of it anyway?

Also, Sarah is still determined to have a baby despite Manpreet’s words of caution. Vanessa wants her to tell Charity, but will Sarah confess all to her gran?

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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