COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

But that doesn't necessarily mean they will



Coronation Street, Emmerdale, EastEnders and Hollyoaks will be allowed to continue filming during the third national lockdown.

On Monday (January 4), Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the country would go back into its highest level of restrictions, with all schools being closed and the public being told to work from home if possible.

However, as clarified by Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for digital, culture, media and sport, production on film and TV shows will be able to continue as normal, as long as they're still carrying out COVID-safety procedures.

"For the arts/creative sectors, this means you should work from home unless you can't – exemptions include for training and rehearsal of performances, recording studios and film & TV production," Dowden tweeted.

While the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are free to continue production on their soaps, this doesn't necessarily mean they will.

However, with the right safety precautions in place, they were all able to continue production during the second lockdown, which may suggest the same can be done again.

During the first lockdown, all of the soaps were brought to a halt, which resulted in the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 having to make changes to their broadcast schedules and even reduce their weekly output of episodes in order to drag out their storylines.

rebbonk wrote:Yeah, cos they're sooooo essential.

Yet more mockery of Bozo's rules. It's becoming rather like taxes... Only affects the little people.