Coronation Street star Andy Whyment warned that the soap could go ‘off air’ unless the production starts again in June.
ITV soap ceased production last month just hours before Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the country lockdown in the amid of the coronavirus pandemic.
And now the actor, who plays Kirk Sutherland, has admitted that the soap may have been broadcast until the beginning of July until episodes are out of the air.
Speaking at the United Podcast, the actor said, “I think we’ve got in the can until the beginning of July.
‘So we need to be back around the middle of June with a little bit of luck, or it’s going to go off the air.
We cut down from six episodes a week to three episodes a week, obviously to stay, so hopefully, we’ll get back.’
He continued: ‘A lot of the airlines have announced they’re going to start flying again mid-June, and I’m thinking if that’s going to happen, so hopefully we’re going to be able to go back to work with a little bit of luck, so the fingers crossed.’ It’s too early to speculate beyond that.
Amid the suspension of the production pause, Coronation Street and Emmerdale were cut to only three episodes a week, with just one episode airing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Filming for Coronation Street was halted last month just hours before the government shut down the UK due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the date for restrictions yet to be confirmed.
The ITV spokesperson confirmed that episodes that were planned to air during Easter or VE Day in May would inevitably be shown on different dates, after having cut back on their weekly broadcasts to ration their filmed episodes.
In their statement, the spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘In the coming weeks, several episodes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale will understandably be out of kilter due to the irregular transmission pattern for both shows which will take place on Monday, 30 March.
Episodes due to Easter broadcasts and those commissioned and filmed to commemorate VE Day, for instance, will not be screened on the dates we had anticipated.
‘We hope the audience can understand the reasons for this and continue to enjoy the series.’ This all comes after Coronation Street made major changes to their regular production schedule and filmed many scenes at once in ahead of the coronavirus lockdown.
A show boss confirmed that the ITV soap hastily filmed and the writers rewrote scenes ‘at a moment’s notice’ to ensure that there were enough scenes for the soap to remain on the air for as long as possible.
With no clue as to when production would resume again in the amid of the COVID-19 pandemic, the soap crammed through as much filming as possible to ensure that the episodes did not run out.
Coronation Street stars on ITV Friday at 7:30 p.m.