Nicola Wheeler and Nick Miles couldn’t film their lockdown episodes at their own ‘Emmerdale’ home.
The soap stars – who play married couple Nicola and Jimmy King – are part of the ITV show’s run of specials set during the coronavirus pandemic, and the 46-year-old actress has explained why their characters had to move to make the filming work.
She said: "We didn’t actually film on our set as it’s so small so we are at Laurel’s house.
"The idea being Rodney is shielding at our house so we’ve moved out and Laurel and the kids are with Jai. That was unusual, treating someone else’s set like it was your own.
"Plus, as we’re having to have the minimum number of people on set to ensure we keep at a safe distance, we are doing our own make-up etc."
Nicola also revealed how she took inspiration from the current health crisis when it came to her alter ego’s style on screen, and praised the crew for the work they have put in.
She added: "As it’s lockdown, I went with the theory that Nicola would be wearing virtually no make-up.
"Dealing with three kids and Jimmy would be enough to drive anyone crazy, so she wouldn’t be thinking about putting her make-up on.
"As we’re filming everything in a day it’s about keeping it simple with no massive hair changes etc and it’s the same with costume.
"They’re picked out the day before and you take it into a wiped down dressing room."
Despite describing returning to set after a three month break as a "strange phenomenon", Nicola has no complaints about the environment as everyone has gone back to work.
She said: "It’s a strange phenomenon as it’s like going back to work, but not how we knew it.
"All departments have been very supportive though and we talked beforehand to make sure everything was ready and we had what we needed."