Coronation Street stars respond to social distancing criticism

Coronation Street stars Will Mellor and Georgia Taylor have defended the soap's strict social distancing measures, and assured fans that more non-socially distanced scenes are on their way for the dramatic stunt week.

It came after a preview picture from next week's episodes was released on Twitter, showing Mellor's villain Harvey Gaskell sat a safe distance away from Sabeen Habeeb (Zora Bishop) in jail.

One Twitter user suggested in the replies: "And still 2 metres apart! [It's] killing the show," while another added: "Soaps seems to be one of the few places with covid restrictions."

harvey gaskell and sabeen habeeb in coronation street

ITV

In response, Mellor himself noted: "[Don't] worry! We are not 2 meters apart when Harvey gets out!!! Trust me."

Addressing further criticism in the replies, Toyah Battersby actress Taylor joined the conversation, as she pointed out: "Actor has covid. Isolates for 10 days. Every single crew and cast member they have been working with (prior to latest regs) has to isolate. Corrie has to halt production.

"That (and to protect people) is why we've had to adhere to these rules. To keep the show on air x."

kelly neelan and toyah battersby in coronation street

ITV

She went on: "If it's ruining it for you then don't watch for now. We will be back to normal in the future. I'm not getting into an argument with you. I'm just trying to explain why things have been the way they've been.

"We film many weeks in advance of transmission which also impacts things."

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Corrie has used a system of putting some cast members in close cohorts and bubbles in order to film certain high-profile scenes and storylines, but the vast majority of filming is shot with social distancing in place.

harvey gaskell standing in a halloween market with rain pouring down

ITV

The soap's producer Iain MacLeod recently spoke about the lengths the cast and crew went to in order to film the upcoming Super Soap Week safely, revealing that they had to establish more than 70 close contact cohorts to ensure actors were COVID-safe to shoot the climactic scenes without distancing.

"There are certain things that you can't really do from two metres away," he explained to Digital Spy and other media. "We felt we were very well steeped in the ways of COVID-safe filming, so we felt we could ramp it up just for this week. We wanted to really go to town on these moments of closeness and intimacy, which we've been having to ration for the last 12 months.

"But the COVID measures were in large part still enforced, which did make it incredibly challenging. And once again, I can't praise our crew and our cast and our production team enough."

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm and 8.30pm on ITV.