EastEnder Omnibus moves permanently to Friday night

EastEnders’ weekly omnibus has moved permanently to Friday nights, it has been confirmed.

The BBC has announced that the soap’s two-hour catchup marathon will no longer air in its traditional Sunday afternoon slot.

In a statement on the EastEnders website, the corporation said: “The EastEnders omnibus has moved to a new late-night slot on Friday night/Saturday morning. It will no longer be on BBC One on Sunday. The next omnibus will be on Saturday [April] 14 at 0.05am-2am.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “Viewers now catch up on EastEnders through a variety of means such as the PVR, our BBC Three repeat or on iPlayer. We’ve therefore decided to move the Omnibus slot to later on Friday nights. This slot is closer to the original transmissions and will be more consistent as it will not need to be moved for sporting commitments.”

The EastEnders Omnibus was broadcast in the Friday night slot last week from 11.30pm, gaining 477k (7.2%) viewers in the overnights.

The Omnibus‘s last showing on a Sunday, on April 1, attracted 792k (9.1%) between 1pm and 3pm.