Coronation Street boss Iain MacLeod has promised some “very real danger” for Gary Windass and Kelly Neelan amid Millie Gibson’s exit.
The soap intends to use a Hollywood technique never before seen in a continuing drama to bring some “high stakes jeopardy” to the characters we all know and love, as years of secrets go off in one “cataclysmic explosion”.
Speaking to Daily Star and other press, the Corrie producer explained: “We decided to go full Corriewood. Among many amazing things, the centrepiece to the week is a sequence that we’ve shot using technology that’s more commonly found in The Mandalorian, or they use a slightly larger version of this in a lot of the Avengers movies.
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“It’s called a volume wall, which is relatively new to me. Essentially it’s a very new version of what they would have called a green screen, or back projection in the early days of the talkies.”
Iain explained that the technology means actors can be transported anywhere, as crew can “design a 3D world”.
He joked: “You can essentially design the surface of Mars and stick Ken and Rita up there having a Mr Kipling and a cup of tea, should you wish.”
Sobering up, he went on: “Now clearly we didn’t want to do that, because that would be slightly bizarre. So what we’ve done instead is create this incredible rooftop sequence with a twinkling Mancunian cityscape behind it, so we can do things that you can never normally do on a location shoot.
“You can put real actors in what appears to be very real danger without using stunt performers. You can have the camera behave in a way that it can’t do in the real world unless it’s being operated by an Avenger. It can swoop and fly and move around as it can’t do for real.”
The discussion soon turned to Millie Gibson’s exit, which she announced earlier this year after an incredible three years on the cobbles.
Iain said: “It leaves me with a heavy heart to say it, but we all know Kelly’s leaving the show.
“So we thought, ‘Well the fact that Millie is going allows us to go really big and do something incredibly high stakes to maybe have some characters step on all these landmines that we buried for them over the years, have them all go off in one cataclysmic explosion.’
“We’ve really thrown everything at this week to make sure all the big secrets are revealed.
(Image: ITV)
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“It’s literally got very high stakes jeopardy, it’s visually very impressive. As I say, I don’t think any continuing drama has ever used this technology before. We’ll be the first to do it.
“It’s funny, it’s got the party to end all parties in the middle of it, it’s characterful, it’s full of young love. It’s just a great all round week of Coronation Street.”
And it isn’t only Kelly who is in danger, as Iain explained: “Gary has to retrace his steps back into the forest of doom where he once fought for his life with Rick Neelan. It’s a really brilliant full stop on that story.”
But what does the technology herald for the future? Iain thinks it could be an end to sets altogether.
He said: “We did joke that there will come a point where we don’t need sets anymore, you just need a volume wall.
“You just go ‘Bang!’ then you’re in the Rovers, ‘Bang!’ and you’re in the Kabin. A tiny bit of me thinks in 10-20 years, that might actually not be that far from the truth.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
