Production of ITV soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale is being paused once again due to the pandemic.
Filming of Emmerdale stopped last week after a number of positive coronavirus tests amongst the team. ITV did not say whether they were members of the cast.
The break allowed bosses to carry out “intensive cleaning” of the set and filming is expected to resume on Monday.
Coronation Street, however, will halt filming for two weeks from Monday to allow for script rewrites due to the pandemic.
Both soaps have worked on and off since last March, with stringent Covid-19 measures in place, when the virus halted TV and film production across the UK.
An Emmerdale spokeswoman said: “We paused filming on Emmerdale last week due to some members of the team testing positive for Covid-19.
“We’ve carried out proper track-and-trace measures on those cases and undertook intensive cleaning of the production building whilst reinforcing the health and safety protocols we have in place.
“We’re returning to filming from this Monday, January 25th.
“This pause in filming will have no impact on our ability to continue to broadcast six episodes of Emmerdale each week.”
This pause in filming won’t affect our ability to deliver six episodes of Coronation Street each week
A spokesperson for Coronation Street said: “Coronation Street will pause filming from next Monday, January 25th, for two weeks to undertake some rewriting of stories and scripts as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will also be taking the opportunity to review all health and safety requirements to ensure we continue to provide a safe working environment for the cast, crew and production team.
“This pause in filming won’t affect our ability to deliver six episodes of Coronation Street each week.”
Last March
Last March, filming on both soaps was halted in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19, although some cast and crew returned to the Emmerdale set in May for socially distanced shoots.
Corrie made a comeback in June, with safety measures in place. Both soaps were reduced to broadcasting three episodes a week in an effort to make content that had already been filmed last longer.
In September ITV announced the shows were back up to speed and the six-episode week would return for both.
Coronation Street recently celebrated its 60th anniversary with a special storyline, artworks and online events.
The soap debuted on ITV on December 9th 1960, the creation of Salford-born writer Tony Warren.
