‘Coronation Street’ could shoot scenes with older cast members from their homes to ensure they are part of the soap’s 60th anniversary.
The ITV soap – which will celebrate its 60th birthday in December – is to resume filming next month after taking a break due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but it is thought some of the show’s veterans, who include the likes of Bill Roache (Ken Barlow), may not feature too much during the restart as older people are more vulnerable to COVID-19.
A TV insider said: "The celebrations would have felt a little empty if the stars who have helped make the soap such a hit for six decades weren’t involved.
"So there are no lengths they will not consider to make this happen – though their number-one priority, of course, is the safety of the soap’s family of legends."
While production on ‘Corrie’ and fellow ITV soap ‘Emmerdale’ looks set to resume next month, social distancing measures are still expected to be adhered to and filming will take place with smaller groups of cast members.
The source added to The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre TV column: "Production is starting up again in June. ‘Emmerdale’ is being used as the benchmark for safety guidelines as they have a lot of space and it’s the perfect location to put the social distancing measures into practice.
"Everyone will be adhering to social distancing and scenes will be filmed with smaller groups.
"The teams working on these shows are the best in the business and will be able to film the episodes in certain ways which will minimise the distancing."
It comes after ITV revealed last week that ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Emmerdale’ are preparing for a potential return, after halting production in March due to the pandemic.
ITV said in a statement: "The health and well-being of our people and those who work with us has always been our highest priority and remains so as we look to restart production.
"We are in the final stages of working with others across the industry on a return-to-production protocol and we are in active discussions with Government on this.
"We will share more news in due course."
And last week, a post on the ‘EastEnders’ Instagram account confirmed the BBC One soap will resume filming next month.
It read: "EastEnders will resume filming at the end of June, with strict social distancing measures in place. More news to be announced soon! #EastEnders #News (sic)"