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BBC announces schedule changes following Prince Philip's death

Many shows from Friday's TV line-up have been pulled

Eve Crosbie
TV & Film Writer
Updated: April 9, 2021
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Following the news of Prince Philip's sad passing earlier today, the BBC's Friday TV schedule has been completely overhauled to make way for a special ongoing live programme dedicated to the Duke of Edinburgh.

MORE: Prince Philip obituary: The Duke's incredible life from childhood to duty

A BBC spokesperson said: "With the sad news that HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, has died, there is now special coverage across all BBC networks to mark his life of extraordinary public service and planned scheduling has been suspended."

As such, all non-news programmes on both BBC One and Two have been pulled for the rest of the day. HELLO! understands that a documentary titled HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Remembered will air at 7.30pm, followed by a tribute to the late royal at 9pm. 

WATCH: Prince Philip has died aged 99

Therefore, the much-anticipated final episode of Masterchef will not go ahead in its usual slot of 8:30pm on BBC One. Fans will have to wait a little longer to find out who has been crowned this year's champion, although a reschedule date for the episode has not yet been announced. New episodes of Eastenders, Have I Got News For You and Gardner's World have also been pulled.

MORE: Royals and celebrities react to Prince Philip's death - see tributes

Hours before news broke, both John Torode and Gregg Wallace appeared on BBC's Morning Live to discuss the finale. Gregg told hosts Gethin Jones and Kym Marsh: "It's an absolute cracker, it really is. You've got three people, they're quite young people actually, three very different styles. I think it's probably one of our best ever finals, the quality, it's an absolute cracker."

John added: "You say you're on MasterChef, or you've become the winner of MasterChef, there's a great accolade about it, there's something quite interesting about it becoming part of the social world that we all live in. MasterChef's just part of the world."

masterchef 1

Masterchef has been rescheduled

After the Duke's death at the age of 99 was confirmed at lunchtime today by the Palace, both BBC One and BBC Two paused their live programming to announce the sad news. Since then, both channels have been sharing rolling updates and tributes.

MORE: The Crown star Tobias Menzies pays tribute to Prince Philip 

Meanwhile, over on ITV, Friday night's instalments of Emmerdale and Coronation Street have been cancelled and a specially commissioned film titled Prince Philip: Duke of Edinburgh is set to air instead. According to sources, Julie Etchingham and Philip Schofield will host a live programme about the Duke at 7pm.

Channel 4 have made several changes to their Friday night line-up in light of the sad news, but will continue to air many of its usual Friday night shows.

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