Watching Coronation Street has certainly been a different experience for fans since the show was forced to halt production and reduce episode output.
While some have enjoyed the three episode scheduling, meaning that each episode effectively has a cliffhanger we have to wait to see resolved, others have hungered for a return to full quota so that the pace of storylines can gather once more.
Discussing the move back to six episodes, show boss Iain MacLeod told Metro.co.uk: ‘I think people were gagging for it – I know I was. 3 eps a week has been brilliant but when it’s chopped in half its frustrating. We were in the midst of Geoff and Yasmeen, we still are, and people were desperate for the next instalment.
‘Coronation Street has become a bastion of normality for people at home in lockdown – having characters they recognise every night was comforting. Everyone is enduring this, it’s important to give them their full complement of Corrie as soon as we can.
‘People have been getting in touch to thank us for transforming them out of lockdown and a moment of escapism.
‘Anecdotally it seems to have been very important to people – if you look at the numbers watching, the lockdown counted for an uptick for most shows but people really returned to Corrie when there was uncertainty in the world.’
He continued: ‘Editorially, we’ve been back at full pace for a while as we have had to bank episodes to get back at six. There wasn’t really much of a holiday period – we started turning up the pace quite quickly. It’s been interesting to see audience reactions – it harked back to before my time in the show which felt exotic and special.
‘Each episode felt like a little mini event as there so few. But we are all geared up to make six eps. I wouldn’t say I will miss it.’
It didn’t come without pressure and obstacles though as it is a new way of working and operating for everyone. But Iain is proud of the achievements of the Corrie family and reckons things are smooth and on target.
He enthused: ‘We have something we use in house which is a transmission chart which plots out 12-18 months of when eps will go out. We had to look at the risks of getting back – a lot of head scratching went into it. The anticipated return was always where it is now – it’s a high wire act for all teams.
‘When we first got back, we simplified everything to a colossal extent except for the car stunt. We needed to turn up the ambition such as more characters in scenes, and double the speed – it’s been like walking up a tightrope. We didn’t want to suddenly get too ambitious with the content or the speed and then realise we have to grind to a halt. As far as we were able to use our crystal ball, it was always this week.
‘The logistical problems are that we have less time to film the scenes. We very deliberately had a loose schedule at the start as we were finding a way so that directors could have the time to work out to safely rig the scene under Covid rules.
‘Now they are getting into the swing – if and when things go wrong as they always do – the schedules are tighter. But this is nothing new to our directors, the page count we film is astonishing. We just have to speed up and speed up. That means the actors have more to learn on a given day than they were during COVID.
‘We are returning to a pace of filming that is more like a pre pandemic speed. We have been spoiled – it will be a wake up call, this is how we used to do it! It’s not out of the ordinary.’
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