EastEnders is involved in a huge schedule shake-up this festive season after scraping the early release of episodes on BBC iPlayer.

Over the past year, viewers of the soap have been able to watch instalments of the show on the streaming service the morning before they air.

But BBC bosses have decided to take that luxury away from EastEnders fans.

Now they will have to wait to watch the highly-anticipated Christmas Day instalment when it airs on our telly screens in the evening.

The first instalment will come at 7:30pm, followed by another at 10:35pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

The episodes are certainly not one to miss after the Beeb dropped EastEnders’ explosive Christmas trailer earlier this month.

EastEnders have been involved in a schedule shake-up ahead of their Christmas Day special

Cindy’s affair is about to come to light as part of the Christmas special

It looks like Cindy Beales’ affair with her former step-son Junior Knight is about to come to light.

On Monday viewers can watch EastEnders from 7:30pm, while on Christmas Eve it will broadcast at 7:45pm, and on Boxing Day it will air at 8:30pm.

Monday 30th December’s instalment will air at 7:30pm, as well as New Year’s Eve’s.

Meanwhile the EastEnders New Year’s Day episode will be at 10pm.

Fans will be happy to know that they will be treated to the early releases on December 30th and 31st, but then the New Year’s Day one will be pulled from iPlayer.

The EastEnders schedule will resume as normal from January 2nd.

It comes after Michelle Collins – who plays Cindy Beale – confessed that viewers will ‘hate’ her alter-ego after the upcoming Christmas special.

Speaking to The Mirror about the upcoming episode, Michelle said: ‘She’s very unpredictable, you never know what she’s going to be doing next thanks to Simon Ashdown.

EastEnders will air at 7:30pm and 10:35pm on Christmas Day

The BBC shared an epic trailer of the festive episode on Instagram

hat will happen with Junior Knight?

BBC releases trailer for EastEnders Christmas 2024 special episode

‘She’s a joy to play. People love to hate her.

‘I don’t know, after this maybe they’ll just hate her and want her gone.’

The soap’s official Instagram shared Christmas Day’s trailer with fans in December.

They captioned the post: ‘Time’s up for Cindy… This Christmas on #EastEnders…’

In the sneak peek, George Knight raises a glass to the Knight and Beale family.

But despite the festive cheer, Cindy and Junior look sheepish at the table in the Queen Vic.

Someone around the table is gifted a recording and it is played out for everyone to hear.

Cindy says: ‘I’m not like Ian, I need passion in my life.’