Coronation Street confirm coronavirus changes will kick in properly in late July

The soap has now started filming again with strict social distancing measures in place
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Kimberley Bond11 June 2020

Coronation Street bosses have given further details on how they will include the ongoing coronavirus crisis in new storylines.

The popular ITV soap, which resumed production with a stringent new set of filming protocols on Tuesday, will feature a jump in time which will see added references to Covid-19.

Speaking to press about what viewers can expect, Coronation Street producer Iain MacLeod explained: “It was a tricky conundrum.

“Much of it was written and shot before the pandemic – so the remaining scenes will be shot strictly adhering to the new measures in place.

Coronation Street is back in production with a strict set of social distancing measures
ITV

“Fictionally, it would have created a world where people were half acknowledging it and half not, which would have been really weird.”

MacLeod confirmed that episodes airing from Friday, July 24 will be among the first episodes to acknowledge the virus.

“It’s just like the flip of a switch,” he said.

Cast and crew are kept two metres apart
ITV

"I think the audience understands and will go with it. Very quickly we're into a post pandemic world and I am sure there will be continuity comments but we have a mature audience who will understand."

However, MacLeod also appreciates that Coronation Street, for a lot of viewers, is a piece of escapism from the real world and so won’t be especially heavy-handed in his approach.

“When we first start referencing the pandemic, we do it with a light touch – because the rest of the world has been living this since March,” he said. “We will see a lot of washing hands, social distancing conspicuously, and people talking about older relatives who are shielded. A lot of our businesses will be operating as takeaways.

The precautions are to keep the show in production without jeopardizing the safety of cast and crew
ITV

“It will be mostly visual, rather than talking about it incessantly. We wanted to carry on with as many storylines as possible. The packaging of certain storylines has changed. There was a storyline that will need to be changed, but the gift of Corrie is still the same. The storylines are still the same – on the whole, with a couple of exceptions.”

Stringent new rules have been put in place during filming in order to protect both the Corrie cast and crew, including intensive cleaning and sanitation, daily temperature checks and make-up and costume teams working remotely.

Cast and crew who are over the age of 70, or have underlying health conditions, will not be on set as filming initially starts.

Those considered ‘clinically vulnerable’ will then see ITV follow a risk assessment process based on the individual, which will allow them to return to work when safe.

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on ITV

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