Will Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale continue filming during lockdown?
5 January 2021, 11:16
All the soaps are allowed to keep filming during lockdown - including Corrie, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks.
Boris Johnson announced on Monday evening that England is heading into a third national lockdown.
This means people are only allowed to leave their houses for limited reasons, including shopping for essentials, going to work and exercise once a day.
But after the likes of Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale were forced to stop filming during the first lockdown, viewers have been wondering whether their favourite soaps will be allowed to continue.
Will Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale continue filming during lockdown?
Production staff on EastEnders, Coronation Street, EastEnders and Hollyoaks are allowed to continue filming.
Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for digital, culture, media and sport, confirmed that all TV shows can continue.
He said in a Tweet: “For the arts/creative sectors, this means you should work from home unless you can’t – exemptions include for training and rehearsal of performances, recording studios and film & TV production.”
EastEnders New Year's Day- Trailer
As a result, Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks are allowed to film, – as well as medical dramas such as Doctors, Casualty and Holby City.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will continue production if they don’t think it is safe.
While the soaps are yet to make any official announcements, TV expert Sharon Marshall hinted things would continue as normal as she told Phillip Schofield on This Morning: "We're all carrying on!" when discussing the latest storylines.
During the first lockdown back in March, all of the soaps were brought to a halt, which resulted in bosses having to make changes to their broadcast schedules.
But things were able to keep going during the second lockdown in October with strict social distancing measures in place, which suggests the same can be done again.
Now Read: EastEnders spoilers: Will evil Gray Atkins finally get his comeuppance after Tina’s death?
