ITV viewers were left perplexed moments into the British Soap Awards after Jane MacDonald suffered a major technical error as she opened the show.

The British Soap Awards experienced a major technical error minutes into the ITV awards cerermony as host Jane MacDonald opened the two-hour-long programme. On Thursday (June 5), viewers tuned in from up and down the country to see soap stars from EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, and Hollyoaks will be seen hitting the red carpet as they dazzle at a night of celebration.

The night will see the public vote for their winners in categories including Best Leading Performer, Villain of the Year, Best Comedy Performance and Best British Soap. Meanwhile, the expert judging panel will choose their winners for Best Family, Best Dramatic Performance, Scene of the Year, Best On-Screen Partnership, Best Newcomer, Best Young Performer, Best storyline and Best Single Episode. But minutes into the programme, fans watching along on ITVX were brought to a halt when the screen went black.

The British Soap Awards was thrown into chaos minutes into the show (Image: Instagram)

ITVX went down minutes into the programme (Image: ITV)

A moment later, a message popped up on screen which read: “We’re sorry for the disruption”. After more than six minutes off air, the pre-recorded ceremony returned to screens as normal.

Although the presenter didn’t address the technical issue, the show continued without a hitch as she greeted this year’s winner’s on the main stage. Express.co.uk has reached out to ITV for a comment.

It didn’t take long before fans flooded to X – formerly known as Twitter – to share their complaints online. One user penned: “We’re sorry for the disruption on #itv just as the ‘britishsoapawards is about to start” as another agreed: “#BritishSoapAwards ‘The award for the worst transmission failure message goes to…’ [laughing emoji].”

A third echoed: “Anyone got issues with ITV? #BritishSoapAwards” as another asked: “Can smeone tell me why ITV don’e wanna air #BritishSoapAwards? Is it because of Corrie?”

Another argued: “Eh, soap awards? We’ve already waited 5 days for this! Get your act together” as a sixth chimed in with: “ITV gone down when the soap awards should be on, typical. It isn’t even live.”

It was a poor night for Coronation Street at this year’s Soap Awards, with the longest-running drama suffering a huge loss by only taking home the specially curated Outstanding Achievement Award, which went to Roy Cropper star David Neilson.

Emmerdale also suffered a huge blow, when they only took home the Best Young Performer role which went to Amelia Flanagan who plays April Windsor, and the Tony Warren Award for long-serviing cameraman Mike Plant.

It was EastEnders that took home the most awards this year, collecting a total of eight titles in its 40th anniversary year. The BBC drama won Best Soap, as well as actress Lacey Turner receiving the award for Best Leading Performer ahead of the upcoming exit from the soap.

Steve McFadden also took home Best Dramatic Performance as Phil Mitchell, while Rudolph Walker and Angela Wynter took home a prize for Best On-screen Partnership as Patrick and Yolande Trueman.