‘Coronation Street’ will "lightly" reference coronavirus, with the Rovers Return set to be turned into a takeaway pub and Underworld staff will make PPE.
ITV bosses have decided to include aspects of the global health crisis into the soap when it returns to filming next week, while ensuring everyone follows social distancing protocols by staying two metres apart.
John Whiston, Managing Director of Continuing Drama for ITV, told ‘Good Morning Britain’: "We will be referencing it, but we will be doing it relatively lightly.
"We’ve got new protocols. The two-metre distance is going to be paramount. We’ve got people with poles to go around prodding actors to make sure they stay two metres away from each other. We’ve had to make a lot of this up ourselves as there are no real guidelines for it [at the time]."
The ITV soap is also following the latest guidelines by preventing large groups of people hanging out in communal spaces like the iconic pub, and has decided to keep it open as a takeaway instead.
He explained: "The Rovers will be a takeaway place. Our communal sets will work in that kind of way. You’ll the odd person wearing a mask. If things loosen up then it’s easier for us to fill that into the scripts when we’re filming than to build lock-in into our scripts.
"We will be reflecting the pandemic, Underworld may even be making PPE."
Meanwhile, fellow ITV soap ‘Emmerdale’ has resumed filming with a selection of cast members, but John admitted one of the "biggest problems" has been the actors’ new DIY haircuts following weeks without being able to go to the hairdressers.
Danny Miller – who plays Aaron Dingle – decided to shave most of his hair off, but his character Aaron Dingle was last seen on TV with longer locks.
He said: "You can see my biggest problem with Aaron’s haircut. Most of the cast, for some reason, decided to shave their heads and all the female cast decided to dye their hair, which is a problem when everyone is coming back to work. So we’ve had to put in a lot of lines taking the p**s out of his hair."