Emmerdale and Coronation Street 'pause' filming because of pandemic

Filming on Emmerdale has been suspended for the past week because of a coronavirus outbreak on set.

The soap, which is shot near Leeds, halted production on 15 January after a number of positive tests. An ITV spokeswoman declined to say how many.

Filming will resume on Monday 25 January, and its broadcast schedule will not be affected, ITV said.

Meanwhile, Coronation Street will "pause" production for two weeks from Monday, but not because of an outbreak.

The Manchester-based soap's cameras will stop rolling to allow its writers to change some future storylines and scripts to ensure it is feasible to film them within current restrictions. The writers and crew have often been making amendments at short notice until now.

Like with Emmerdale, Coronation Street will be able to continue screening six episodes a week, ITV said.

Both soaps cut the number of episodes that went on air when they halted filming last spring and summer, but then went back up to their usual six-episode weekly broadcast schedules.

"We paused filming on Emmerdale last week due to some members of the team testing positive for Covid 19," an ITV statement said.

"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, 25 January. This pause in filming will have no impact on our ability to continue to broadcast six episodes of Emmerdale each week."

And a statement about its sister soap said: "Coronation Street will pause filming from next Monday, 25 January 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."

Coronation Street has had no recent positive coronavirus cases on set, a spokeswoman added.