There's a lot being written about how Coronation Street will come out of the coronavirus lockdown. Some of it is rumour and gossip, some of it is untrue. But here's what we know so far.
Corrie episodes are likely to run out in July after which time all current episodes which have already been filmed will have been shown on TV.
The UK government wants Corrie back on air as soon as possible, says ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall. "ITV's role is to inform people but also entertain and engage them – and that is vital at the moment," McCall told commercial partners in a conference call this week. "The government is very keen for us to bring back the soaps as soon as we can, while observing the social distancing measures." Measures under consideration include one-way staircases on set and the introduction of perspex screens in the editing suites.
Andy Whyment, who plays Kirk Sutherland in Corrie, says that "Corrie could go off air". In an interview he says: “We worked up until the Friday when Boris closed all the pubs and clubs. We had a schedule to work until the following Thursday then on the Sunday we got an email saying they were standing everyone down. It was the right thing to do. We’ve got until July in the can, so we need to get back mid-June otherwise it’s going to go off air.”
There's a story in The Sun, so take it with a pinch of salt as they're known for making things up, that the Rovers Return is likely to be closed when the soap starts filming new episodes again. "Producers think it would be slightly weird not to at least acknowledge the huge disruption the crisis has caused," Mr Curry Sauce said. "How much it is acknowledged will all depend on when cast and crew are allowed back on set. They're hopeful they will be able to start work on new episodes soon, but one way of nodding to the lockdown is shutting the Rovers.
If Corrie does go off-air, and I seriously hope it doesn't, I'd much rather the current three episodes a week goes down to two or even one, to eke out the remaining shows to last longer into the summer.
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Glenda Young
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