'Coronation Street' characters wear masks in corner shop after criticism
Coronation Street has shown characters wearing face coverings while visiting the corner shop, after previously facing criticism for not doing so.
Government guidelines stipulate that people in England must wear face masks inside shops and on public transport to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. But in an episode of the ITV soap aired last month Corrie characters were not following the rules at Dev Alahan's shop.
Now new images released from an upcoming episode have shown Weatherfield residents Sally Metcalfe – played by Sally Dynevor – and Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) adhering to government guidelines and wearing face coverings while popping to the corner shop.
Sally was wearing a black face mask while Debbie had wrapped a white scarf around her nose and mouth while they both kept socially distanced at the local shop.
Owner Dev (Jimmi Harkishin) remained socially distanced behind the counter, but was not wearing a mask or gloves, nor could any hand sanitiser be seen on the counter.
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In an episode of Corrie which aired last month Sally wore rubber washing-up gloves to do her shopping and social distancing signs could be seen all round the store.
However neither she, Dev or Alya Nazir (Sair Khan), who she met at the shop, were shown wearing face coverings.
An ITV spokesperson said: “We'd appreciate the audience respecting that new episodes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale were recorded before the recent health and safety legislation.
“Some scenes will be out of kilter with what is happening in the real world.”
Corrie, along with all British soap operas, was forced to stop filming during the government lockdown and had to cut back the number of episodes it airs each week in order to make pre-recorded episodes last.
Since returning to the cobbles, cast and crew are having to contend with social distancing guidelines which mean they cannot be within two metres of one another unless they live in the same household.
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This has made the physical contact necessary for love affairs and fight scenes synonymous with soap operas impossible to film without the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI).
It was recently revealed that EastEnders have introduced plastic shields to allow soap actors to be filmed standing close together, with the perspex guard then digitally removed before the scenes are aired.
