BACK IN BUSINESS!
With normality on the horizon, both Corrie and EastEnders lift bans on certain aspects of filming…
Well, here is a sight for sore eyes – Coronation Street and EastEnders are back filming out on real-life locations again, after strict Covid protocols forced our soaps to contain the vast majority of filming to their studio sets.
Our first set of sneaky snaps of the Weatherfield teens filming in a large group outdoors is a sure sign that life is gradually opening up, with characters such as Nina, Seb, Summer, Kelly and Corey set to feature in a big story. And the huge grins on the actors’ faces say it all, as they were clearly lapping up the opportunity to shoot en masse.
Meanwhile, EastEnders is busy pulling out all the stops for the muchanticipated Ballum wedding. The show has carried out a couple of short location shoots in the past few months – such as Max’s trip to the River Thames to wait for Linda, alongside Sharon’s visit to Denny’s grave and her father Gavin’s funeral – but this time we’re seeing several actors on location for the big story. Faces spotted out and about included groom Callum, his brother Stuart and pal Jay
– not to mention Square newcomer Gwen Taylor, who was spotted carrying her character’s shoes ahead of playing the Highway siblings’ Grandma Violet.
And that’s not all in terms of the filming slowly edging back to normality. Stars Shona McGarty and Davood Ghadami (Whitney and Kush) recently formed a bubble and underwent Covid testing in order to film a proper kiss between their characters as part of Kush’s upcoming exit story (see p4 for more), similar to measures employed by Danny Dyer and Kellie Bright, aka Mick and Linda, for their scenes at New Year.
Does that mean that viewers will also get to hear the words, “You may kiss the groom,” on Ben and Callum’s wedding day, if stars Max Bowden and Tony Clay take the same approach?
We really do hope so!