Coronation Street will address coronavirus crisis when filming resumes

Production on the soap was suspended in March

Coronation Street will address the coronavirus crisis when filming on the soap resumes.

ITV was forced to suspend production on Coronation Street and Emmerdale in March due to safety concerns around the virus.

Speaking about the show’s inevitable return, producer Iain MacLeod said that the long-running series would handle the sensitive issue with a “light touch”.

“The Coronation Street that we love is the one that reflects modern Britain, albeit in a more heightened way sometimes,” he said.

“It just felt that if there were to be no coronavirus in Coronation Street, it would stop being a reflection of modern Britain and would instead be a parallel fantasy land. So we took the view that it has to exist in our world.”

He continued: “However I am also aware that people tune in to Coronation Street for escapism to some degree… so while the virus will exist in Coronation Street, we were also keen that it wouldn’t dominate every single story and every single scene.

“It’ll be there, it’ll be handled with a light touch, but other than that our storytelling will be business as usual.”

In order to keep the soap going throughout the summer, ITV has been airing three episodes of the show a week.

Australian soap opera Neighbours has already resumed filming while sticking to social distancing measures, making sure that its actors are always 1.5 metres apart and banning kissing completely.