[Sophii3x]

Get Enders 5 times a week
EASTENDERS is to be screened FIVE times a week to do battle with rival Coronation Street, The Sun can reveal.

BBC1 bosses are set to film an extra half-hour episode of the soap, tipped to be broadcast on Wednesday nights. That would add up to 2½ hours of EastEnders per week — exactly the same as ITV1 rival Corrie.

A Beeb insider said: “BBC1 controller Peter Fincham is very keen to match Corrie episode for episode.

“He’s made no secret that he’d like EastEnders to go five times a week and is in discussions with drama chiefs to firm up the plans.”

EastEnders, whose stars include John Bardon as Jim Branning, now airs on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights, with an omnibus on Sundays.

Corrie has a Monday double bill and is also shown on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The extra half hour of EastEnders, which could alternatively be shown on Sundays, follows months of criticism over scripts and storylines.

The show went four times a week in August 2001, to match Corrie, which introduced a fourth episode in 1996.

Stars had to be pacified by TV chiefs, who were said to have given them £50,000 pay rises for the extra workload.

Last night an EastEnders insider insisted the cast had NOT been told of plans for a fifth weekly episode.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “We constantly examine our schedules for possibilities.”

The Sun