After speculation, the team behind The British Soap Awards have confirmed there will not be a ceremony in 2020.
“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. The awards ceremony will return in 2021.” – British Soap Awards spokesperson quoted by the RadioTimes
With all the major television soaps having their production halted due to the Coronavirus it was unlikely that the gong show celebrating a year of drama in the sagas would be able to take place this year.
Today a spokesperson for the ITV Soap Awards show confirmed that indeed the celebration of serial plots and personalities has been cancelled.
The ceremony is usually held in summer, but will now skip 2020 and return to ITV screens next year.
It is also a difficult time for soap planning with Coronation Street’s 60th Anniversary celebrations in December possibly affected by the show being halted while Hollyoaks’ aired New Year’s Eve 2020 last year and will need to make up lost months of episodes in time to get back to that point this year.
The British Soap Awards were launched in 1999 with hosts Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. Other presenters include Des O’Connor and Melanie Skyes. Last year the gong show was broadcast live on ITV for the first time in its history and was due to go live again this year with the show celebrating its 21st anniversary.
Instead of the live show an hour-long special marking 21-years of soapy gongs will air instead, narrated by Phillip Schofield. In the sixties, seventies and eighties ITV aired The TV Times Awards that celebrated the best in television.