The BBC has warned that it could have to axe EastEnders if Conservative plans to implement new policy comes to pass.
As the ongoing feud between the government and the corporation intensifies, new reforms could force the BBC to stop making programmes deemed too similar to commercial rivals - which could spell the end for the Walford-based soap.
Ian and Jane are shocked to see the police
© BBC
The BBC said in a statement: "It does not make practical sense to say that the BBC should only make a programme if another broadcaster never would.
"That would mean that when ITV made Broadchurch, the BBC would have to stop making Happy Valley. Or it would mean that we should stop doing EastEnders because ITV does Coronation Street."
It comes in response to the Culture Secretary John Whittingdale's green paper released in July.
John Whittingdale arrives at Downing Street
© Getty Images / Carl Court
John Whittingdale
The paper accepted that the BBC can reach a wide base of licence fee payers with "popular content", but added that concerns had been raised the BBC "behaves in an overly commercial way encroaching on TV genres and formats that could be served well by its commercial competitors".
Under these rules, it would see The Voice UK also axed, as ITV has The X Factor.
The broadcaster previously said these decisions should rest with the public rather than the government, as it is the public who pay the licence fee.