Soaps that attempt to show real life in the present day - often literally what's happening TODAY - face unique challenges during pandemics, lockdowns and physical distancing. In my blog post of the 29th of April, I explored the question of whether there was Coronavirus in Coronation Street. At the time, it wasn't overt, but there were a few hints of the shape of things to come. Today, nearly three months later, I'll give a bit of an update.

Here in Canada, we've always been at least a couple of weeks behind the U.K. in the episodes we're seeing. But of course even in the U.K., story lines must be developed, individual episodes must be written and then those episodes must be filmed at times when the actors can co-ordinate their respective schedules to a suitable degree - all before the episodes can be aired on ITV over there. That, I should imagine, would require at least a couple of months of lead time - time during which the writers, actors and film crew might have little or no inkling of what was about to befall the world!

Friday's episode in the U.K. was apparently the first time that there was any overt mention of Covid-19 on Coronation Street. So the residents of Weatherfield got through their vernal equinox, their Mothers' Day at the end of March, plus Easter, both May bank holidays and the summer solstice, doing all the things the rest of the world (or even the rest of the country) was not allowed to do, seemingly untouched by SARS-Covid-2.

Behind the scenes, however, things were clearly a little different:

https://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com

Apparently the main set closed down entirely on March 23 and filming only resumed in a limited way in early June:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/covid-coronation-street-1.5662581?cmp=rss

It's interesting to note some of the ways they kept the British stiff upper lip, keeping calm and carrying on to the extent it was possible. Members of the actors' real-life households could at times serve as body-doubles, creative camera angles were used, smaller sets were improvised away from the closed main set.

But if we looked on enviously at the carefree life of Weatherfield residents at the beginning of our pandemic, I expect the time lag will apply at the end as well. When our restrictions have been lifted, we'll no doubt have ample sympathy for our friends on the cobbles languishing in loneliness and self-isolation!
At first glance, you would think that covid 19 had completely bypassed the town of Weatherfield. No one has said a word about it. Nobody wears a mask or uses hand sanitizer. You don't see people queuing up 2 metres apart, waiting to get into Freshco to buy their groceries. At the posh old folks' home where Ken and Claudia and Norris live, no one is falling ill or dropping dead.

What gives? Is this one soap that has thoroughly washed its hands of the pandemic?

There are a few signs to suggest that that's not the case. The production schedule has been scaled back from six episodes per week to three. And while shops and other businesses along the cobbles still appear to be open, we've seen very few crowd scenes lately. No big celebrations in the Rovers or the Bistro. No gaggles of gossiping seamstresses in the knicker factory. Not even the usual frantic to-ing and fro-ing at the Medical Centre or Weatherfield General.

Instead, we see lots of scenes with only one or two characters. Emma sits with Eccles the dog, moaning about the sorry state of her love life. Gemma flops down on the sofa, surrounded by the urgent wailing of babies. From a distance, Chesney calls out, "Right, I'm off to work now." Yasmeen stares glumly at her mobile phone as she comes to terms with the truth of Geoff's abuse. Geoff spies on her electronically from somewhere else as he hooks up with his dating services.

There haven't been any big new story lines in a while. A drama that used to be many times more dramatic than most people's lives is becoming positively humdrum!

I'm not sure how this will play out over the next few months. Will they start relying more on old footage and reminiscences and videos left to heirs by now-dead characters? Will they eventually incorporate the pandemic into new story lines? Will they entirely suspend the filming of new episodes? I'm betting that they will at the very least want to prepare something for the show's 60th anniversary in December.
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