How Coronation Street bosses plan to film amid COVID-19 pandemic

Coronation Street’s cast and crew returned to the soap’s iconic cobbles this week, three months after production was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And soap bosses have revealed how they will continue bringing the drama on-screen and keep to strict social distancing measures, which will see on-screen kisses and traditional explosive stunts barred.

Corrie producer Iain MacLeod said: ‘It’s been incredibly challenging – this is a programme about social interactions and romance and punching someone in the Rovers, all of which require you to be closer than two metres to your co-stars.’

Discussing the inventive ways in which they will shoot an upcoming car accident sequence, MacLeod said: ‘It’s two people in vehicular jeopardy that will look like they’re right on top of each other and touching but will be shot with no-one going within two metres of each other at all. In instances like that, we’ll be cheating it.’

Elaborating on ‘cheating’ their way through this, he added: ‘Our request to directors has been: cheat it. 

‘We will use focal distancing and foreshortening to make it look like married couples are closer than they are and create a bit of intimacy. Otherwise it will look peculiar if they are unnaturally distancing.’ 

Another roadblock in a soap known for its romantic storylines, is the ban on kissing scenes in accordance with the on-set rules. 

MacLeod said romance will be expressed in a different way, with on-screen couple sharing longing looks and expressing their interest verbally.   

He said: ‘On kissing, we had a scene which would have required Character A to have lip-on-lip contact with Character B so instead the writer had to very cleverly craft the scene so that the come on was verbal. It works equally well.’   

Actor Ben Price (Nick Tilsley) explained this week that his current emotionally-charged storyline with Jane Danson (Leanne), has been taxing to perform, given that their on-screen son is battling a life-limiting illness.

‘The scenes are incredibly touching and there was a moment where as Nick, I wanted to give her a hug, but I couldn’t,’ he said, with Jane adding: ‘We couldn’t physically touch each other but it didn’t feel too different. We found ways of looking at each other.’

Corrie bosses have acknowledged, however, there are some explosive storylines that cannot be done justice in the current climate.

Some stories have either been scrapped or adapted – or put on hold – to allow the new normal. Scenes due to be shot away from the cobbles have been re-set, while others have been pushed back months – even into next year in some cases.      

Despite COVID-19 not being the main focus of life on Coronation Street as the stories continue, the soap won’t ignore it – with the first references to the health crisis being made in an episode scheduled to air on July 24.

‘We took the view that it’s better to let viewers see the new world that we all live in rather than talk about it,’ explained MacLeod. 

‘I don’t think people tune in to Coronation Street wanting to see more people banging on about the pandemic. We want to stay true to what Corrie is, not suddenly turn it into a medical drama or a soap version of the Dustin Hoffman movie Outbreak. 

Coronation Street is the UK’s longest-running soap – and halted production in March when the UK went into lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

ITV’s other veteran soap Emmerdale, as well as BBC’s EastEnders and Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, all ceased filming while the UK went into lockdown, with broadcasts slots reduced and fears that networks would run out of new episodes. 

The  cobbles were back in business on Wednesday, with actors and production staff returning to the dormant sound stages and iconic Weatherfield neighbourhood, which is situated close to Manchester.

Under the television industry’s return-to-work rules, cast and crew kept away from one another, filming scenes with the UK’s continued 2 meter social distance rule in place.

 In somewhat bizarre behind-the-scenes images released by ITV, the stars were seen interacting on the cobbles of Coronation Street, but standing carefully apart from each other.

Similarly, camera operators kept back, and directors, producers and production assistance appeared few and far between. 

In addition, those not in the scenes were spotted wearing protective face masks, keeping COVID-19 at bay.

Despite rules still stringently in force in the UK when it comes to the public’s indoor interaction, the cast and crew were back on interior sets, returning to the familiar household sound-stages of Corrie’s residents.

Cast were seen in their ‘homes’, while camera crew kept way back, and producers watched the action from monitors out of the way.   

Backstage, script supervisors and wardrobe and make-up artists were seen perched on chairs, carefully set away from each other, no doubt glad to be back to work regardless.

The entrances of the Corrie studios and sets also have a series of signs displayed, enforcing social distancing upon arrival. 

New safety measures have been put in place at ITV studios including medical screening, safe-distance queuing and ambulances on set amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The channel’s Health and Safety team and medical advisers have been working closely with the government to consult on social distancing guidelines to ensure the team are working in accordance with return-to-production protocols.  

ITV also revealed that they would not have any shoots on location, while scripts have been adapted to include fewer scenes and a small number of actors so that the cameras don’t need to be moved on a regular basis.

Corrie producer Iain MacLeod has also explained that cast have been told to keep their hands to themselves and to leave props alone unless absolutely vital to a scene.

‘If you consider that every time somebody touches something that has been bought in from our buying team, then been placed on set by somebody from our design team — that’s three possible chains of transmission for any virus particles that might be on any of their hands,’ he said. 

Crew are also using coloured poles to keep stars apart. ITV boss John Whiston revealed: ‘We going to do blue and red and then people pointed out that there were too many tribal football loyalties around so I think, on Coronation Street it’s green, orange and pink to sort of try and avoid that.’    

Stars such as Michael Le Vell, Sally Dynevor and Alexandra Mardell were spotted arriving at the set to get back to work this week. Michael was seen arriving at the set on Monday with Sally and Harry where they were met with security guards wearing face masks.

Actor Andy Whyment recently shared a picture of new scripts, having been sent them in the post. Taking to his Instagram page, he penned: ‘New scripts EXCITED!’ 

As the actors return to filming, the plan is to make enough shows to continue airing three episodes a week to ensure the soap remains on-screen in July.              

ITV bosses previously confirmed that older cast members will be kept at home during the first few weeks of filming. 

Cast and crew over the age of 70, or with an underlying health condition, will be kept at home during the early stages.

This may be sad news for soap fans, as cast members who fall into that age bracket include William Roache (who plays Ken Barlow), Barbara Knox (Rita Tanner), Sue Nicholls (Audrey Roberts) and Maureen Lipman (Evelyn Plummer).   

It had been reported that older stars may still appear via video calls, with boss MacLeod confirming as such this week.

‘Have we considered having the older or medically vulnerable cast on Zoom calls? The answer to that is yes!’ he said. ‘We’re very keen to make sure we keep as many of our wonderful cast and brilliant characters on screen as we can.

‘In some cases, they can’t physically be in the building but I know the audience will thank us for keeping sight of them – they’re all well loved and fantastic performers – we’re keen to see them as much as we can.’   

Fellow ITV boss Whiston, also explained that he is concerned about the soap getting back to work but then hitting further national complications – for example if there is a second wave of the coronavirus in the UK.

‘We have to plan for when certain stories are going to peak – if we get knocked off kilter we might have to do a Christmas bubble and just bring that in. We’ve got plan A, plan B, plan C and plan Z at the moment,’ he said.

The show will celebrate 60 years in December and explained that some of these celebratory storylines have required a rewrite.

Of this, MacLeod explained: ‘We’ve had to strip out some of the bigger Hollywood spectacular elements and to my immense relief below all of that are three or four fantastically good stories, including a salacious love triangle. Once we stripped away all the crash, bang, wallop what we’ve been left with is essential soap viewing.’ 

Earlier this month, Emmerdale became the first British soap to resume filming after production was halted.