‘Coronation Street’ will address the Covid-19 pandemic onscreen.
Showrunner Iain MacLeod has revealed that once filming on the ITV soap resumes, the global health crisis will be referenced on the show, although he insisted it will not dominate storylines.
Ian told The Daily Star newspaper: "The bottom line is we talked a lot about this, as you can well imagine, about whether ‘Coronation Street’ would have a coronavirus presence in it or if we would exist in a parallel universe, everything proceeding in a pre-pandemic fashion.
"So while the virus will exist in ‘Coronation Street’, we were also keen that it wouldn’t dominate every single story and every single scene.
"It will be there, you’ll be able to see evidence of it in the way people behave, hand-washing protocols and things like that, the way our businesses will be tweaked to more takeaways and the like, as food outlets are doing in the real world."
Meanwhile, ITV boss Kevin Lygo recently revealed plans are in place for ‘Coronation Street’ to hopefully resume filming next month, as it only has installments to remain on air until the end of June.
‘Coronation Street’ has been broadcasting three episodes a week compared to the usual six to keep to stay on air longer during the pandemic.
Speaking during an online Q&A as part of the Edinburgh TV Festival, Kevin also suggested that older actors such as 88-year-old William Roache, who plays ‘Corrie’ legend Ken Barlow, may be absent from filming for some time.
He said: "I don’t want Ken Barlow to get sick."
Kevin also confirmed that producers will rewrite storylines so they can limit the number of cast members involved and will also use camera trickery to adhere to social distancing.
Coronation Street to address Covid-19 pandemic
