The BBC has axed tonight's episode of Little Mix: The Search at the last moment to provide extended coverage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's coronavirus update.

The live portion of the series has previously been reduced from four episodes to three due to a COVID-19 outbreak among production crew and was due to air its semi-final episode tonight.

Now the BBC has confirmed that it will instead air the episode on Friday at 7pm on BBC One, ahead of the final the following night at 6.05pm.

The change has been made to accommodate Johnson's briefing from 10 Downing Street, in which he is expected to announce that England will go back into lockdown for a month.

In a statement, the show's Twitter account said: "Little Mix The Search has been postponed tonight for a BBC News special.

"The show will now become part of a big final event weekend, with the semi-final airing at 7pm on Friday 6th November and the final at 6.05pm on Saturday 7th November."

As it stands, tonight's live episode of Strictly Come Dancing is scheduled to go ahead as planned at 7.10pm.