BBC gives THIS update on when EastEnders will start filming again

EastEnders
(Image credit: BBC)

Filming has stopped across our favourite soaps...

EastEnders was forced to stop filming last month because of the coronavirus lockdown.

In addition to this, the BBC soap has been operating on a reduced schedule airing two episodes a week.

But BBC controller Piers Wenger has discussed the possibility of resuming filming on Eastenders again.

Speaking at a virtual panel at the Edinburgh TV Festival, he revealed he was "desperate" to start filming.

One option would be “quarantining actors and crew in order to allow actors to interact in the same space”.

Wenger admitted that it would be more costly doing it this way, as it would require stars to spend more time on set.

EastEnders filming

There's been a lot less visits to Walford recently...

But it could be one of the only ways to continue making episodes if social distancing measures last for the rest of the year.

Wenger also revealed that Australian soap Neighbours had been filming in a new way due to social distancing.

He said, "There are ways of cheating, actors being close enough together to act in a scene. Neighbours are experimenting with different ways of shooting while social distancing is in place."

Charlotte Moore, BBC's director of content, revealed that audiences were growing tired of programmes that were filmed via video call.

Addressing this, she said, "We’re very keen not everything is made on Zoom."

"At the moment people are enjoying ‘we’re all in it together’ and seeing inside everyone’s house … But there’s also a massive appetite for all the massive flashy shows.”

Many programmes have been impacted by lockdown, with filming suspended for safety reasons.

Line of Duty and Peaky Blinders are among those forced to stop filming amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It's not known exactly when soaps and dramas will resume as normal, but fans everywhere are missing them!

Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Now she works for our sister site TechRadar in the same role. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.

She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress