Coronation Street star Andy Whyment has confirmed when ITV will likely run out of pre-recorded episodes of the soap.
Filming of Corrie has been suspended since late March, with ITV cancelling production as a health and safety precaution during the coronavirus pandemic.
Since then, the soap has been reduced from six to three episodes each week in an effort to spread out the pre-recorded instalments.
Speaking on the United Podcast earlier this week, Andy – who plays Kirk Sutherland on Corrie – confirmed how many weeks of episodes remain.
Andy Whyment revealed the soap has enough episodes recorded to last until early July (Image: ITV)
He said: “I think we’ve got until the beginning of July in the can.
“So we need to get back hopefully by the middle of June with a bit of luck, otherwise it’s going to go off-air.”
The 39-year-old soap star continued: “We’ve cut down from six episodes a week to three episodes a week, obviously to stay, but hopefully we’ll get back.
“A lot of the airlines have announced they’re going to start flying again mid-June, so I’m presuming if that’s going to happen then hopefully we should be able to get back to work with a bit of luck, so fingers crossed.”
Coronation Street has been reduced to three episodes per week since the lockdown (Image: ITV)
The government has yet to announce a date for the lifting of the lockdown restrictions.
ITV broke the news about the suspension of filming in a statement, originally claiming to have enough episodes to last until “early summer”.
It read: “ITV has sadly taken the decision to suspend production of the soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale with effect from Monday 23 March.’
Filming of Coronation Street was suspended by soap bosses last month
“We’ve been doing our best to carry on filming, whilst adhering to the Government’s latest health guidelines, to ensure we’ve episodes of both soaps airing on ITV until at least the early summer.
“However, the health and well-being of the production teams, actors, crew and their families is of paramount importance to us and we now feel that the time has come to stop filming.”
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
