Coronation Street’s chief has confirmed that the show will feature coronavirus in future episodes.
Iain MacLeod says that as the ITV soap is a reflection on the real world, to not include references to the COVID-19 pandemic would turn it into a “parallel fantasy land”.
He spoke as ITV bosses desperately try to work out how to resume filming once lockdown is lifted - but no details of this have been announced as yet.
The soap halved its output once social distancing measures were put in place, but there are fears that the programme may run out if rules are not relaxed in the coming weeks.
Iain said: “We talked a lot about whether Coronation Street would have coronavirus present in it, or whether we would exist in a parallel universe where everything existed pre-pandemic fashion.
“Ultimately what I thought was the Corrie we love reflects modern Britain - albeit in a more heightened way sometimes.
“It felt if there was to be no coronavirus in Coronation Street it would stop being a reflection of modern Britain and instead be a parallel fantasy land.”
Iain went on to explain that while the virus will not dominate the scripts, viewers will be able to see behaviours changing and businesses adapting to reflect it.
Iain said: “I am aware that people tune into Corrie for escapism to some degree - to see drama and stories that never normally experience in their lives or see in their living rooms played out on screen.
“So while the virus will exist in Coronation Street we were also keen that it would not dominate every story and scene.
“If your lives are like mine, corona is the only topic in my house - people don’t want to tune into Corrie and see in every scene people talking about it.
“It will be there - you will see evidence of it in the behaviours of the characters, handwashing protocols, the way businesses are run will be tweaked to make way for more takeaways like in the real world.”
Coronation Street airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7.30pm on ITV.
