‘EastEnders’, ‘Casualty’ and ‘Holby City’ are "not quite" ready to resume filming.
Australian soap ‘Neighbours’ is shooting new episodes using camera tricks and putting cast members into smaller groups, and while BBC drama controller Piers Wenger noted the Channel 5 show’s filming trickery, he admitted the BBC serial drama trio are "not quite at that point yet".
But the BBC is making a new show, ‘Talking Heads’, at Elstree Studios, and Piers admitted the corporation will "learn an awful lot" from how that is made amid the coronavirus pandemic.
What’s more, he admitted the BBC may consider "[quarantining] actors and crew in order to allow actors to interact in the same space", but confessed it will be tough to make a drama "normally" until the social distancing rules are lifted.
Speaking in a YouTube Q&A staged by the Edinburgh TV Festival, he added: "Until you can put two actors together on a set, it is going to be very hard to make drama normally."
‘EastEnders’ has cut its weekly production down from four to two episodes during the pandemic.
Piers’ comments come after ITV’s chief executive Carolyn McCall claimed the government are keen for ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Emmerdale’ to resume filming as soon as possible once it is safe to do so.
She said: "ITV’s role is to inform people but also entertain and engage them – and that is vital at the moment.
"The government is very keen for us to bring back the soaps as soon as we can, while observing the social distancing measures."
Potential measures to ensure a return to set may include one-way only staircases, or Perspex screens surrounding editing stations.
It’s said ITV are looking into a plan to allow production to resume, despite the current restrictions in place.
Both ‘Emmerdale’ and ‘Corrie’ are on breaks amid the ongoing health crisis, with episodes of each show rationed to three times a week.
EastEnders ‘not quite’ ready to resume filming
