By 1 January 1997, ITV had opted to increase their output to three episodes a week with the additional episode being screened on Wednesdays, From 2 October 2000, a further two episodes were added on a Monday and Friday evening, thus making "Emmerdale" a daily soap. A sixth episode begin to air on Sundays in 2004, making Emmerdale the first British soap to broadcast six episodes a week.[9]