Government Eager For Coronation Street and Emmerdale To Resume Production

The coronavirus outbreak has forced most of the industries to shut down including the soap opera world. Sudsers like “Coronation Street” and “Emmerdale” were forced to shut down their production to prevent the spread of the virus.

Because filming of new scenes was stopped, viewers of the shows were left with no choice but to watch less number of episodes per week. But it seems like the soaps are set to resume filming and the government is reportedly eager for the soaps to do so.

ITV Suspends Coronation Street and Emmerdale

ITV suspended production of the soaps back on Monday, March 23.

“We’ve been doing our best to carry on filming, whilst adhering to the Government’s latest health guidelines, to ensure we’ve episodes of both soaps airing on ITV until at least the early summer,” an ITV spokesperson said.

“However, the health and well-being of the production teams, actors, crew, and their families is of paramount importance to us and we now feel that the time has come to stop filming. We’d like to thank our viewers for their support and hope they continue to enjoy both soaps in the coming months,” the spokesperson explained.

Will Coronation Street and Emmerdale Resume Production?

According to ITV’s chief of executive Carolyn McCall, the government is eager for the broadcaster to get its soaps back to the regular airing schedule as soon as possible in order to keep viewers entertained.

“ITV’s role is to inform people but also entertain and engage them – and that is vital at the moment,” McCall said.

“The government is very keen for us to bring back the soaps as soon as we can while observing the social distancing measures,” she continued.

McCall’s comments came during an ITV Power Powerbank Briefing, as reported by Broadcast. During the event, she said that the government has been “supportive and accessible” and that they’re eager for both soaps to resume production.

ITV Creates Plan To Resume Production

According to Broadcast, ITV is creating a plan for the soaps to resume filming new scenes. Preventive measures will be set in place and these may include using one-way staircases and Perspex screens in editing suites.

It is possible that the broadcaster would turn to the Australian soap “Neighbours” for ideas, as the latter resumed production this week. To protect their cast, show bosses of “Neighbours” have decided to eliminate kissing scenes. Given that all of them will be practicing social distancing, camera trickery will be used to make it look like actors are standing close together.