From love triangles to teen pregnancy, cancer to dementia, comedy scrapes to heartbreak, our soaps do it best when they reflect real life.
And real life really did come knocking when Emmerdale became the first to start filming again, creating special episodes of village life in lockdown.
Fan favourites Sam, Lydia, Cain, Aaron, Mandy and Vinny Dingle, and Jimmy and Nicola King, have been busy creating the new storylines under strict new social-distancing rules.
Lisa Riley, who plays Mandy, and Nicola Wheeler, who plays Nicola, took us behind the scenes and explained how the lockdown has changed filming.
Lisa, 43, believes it was important for the show to create lockdown episodes to reflect what the nation has been thinking and feeling since March 23.
And she says many fans have been worried that their favourite shows would go off-air for good if they didn’t return to filming. She says: “When I’ve been in the supermarket doing my weekly shop everyone’s been asking me, ‘When are you going back?’
“It’s almost like soaps are part of people’s daily routine that helps them get through the lockdown. They don’t want to see re-runs, they want to see what’s happening in the village now, and we feel a real pride in what we’re doing.”
The Emmerdale production team worked round the clock for three weeks to make it safe for cast and crew to return to filming. And the strict social-distancing rules mean any hugs and kisses are out – on and off screen.
Lisa says: “The lack of people is kind of eerie. My dressing room is in probably the busiest part of the building, so on a normal day I see so many people.
“Now there’s just me on my own – even me and Brad [Bradley Johnson, who plays Vinny] aren’t allowed in each other’s dressing rooms.
“We can’t even go to make a coffee as the canteen is shut, so we’ve all been bringing our own flasks and packed lunches in. On set once somebody touches something, filming has to stop and they have to wipe it down before someone else touches it.
“Brad accidentally touched a bottle that I had touched and we had to stop so he could go off to be disinfected!
“We now have a two-metre bamboo stick so the directors can check the distance between me, Brad and the cameraman. The rules are so strict and there isn’t anything they haven’t thought of. Even when we go to the loo, where there are eight cubicles, it’s now one in, one out.”
The major challenge for Lisa has not been learning the huge number
of lines involved for a whole episode with just her and Vinny on screen – but getting to grips with Mandy Dingle’s larger-than-life hair and make-up singlehandedly.
“Mandy’s hair and make-up is a challenge,” she admits. “Our hair and make-up team are amazing! I’ve never put false lashes on in my life, and Mandy and her lashes are like spaghetti and bolognese – you can’t have one without the other.
“So I’ve had to persevere and do it. Mandy’s wigs are huge and I now have to fit them myself, so I apologise if she doesn’t look quite herself.”
While Lisa brushed up on her hairdressing skills, Nicola, 46, took a different route – choosing not to wash her hair for seven weeks. She thought lockdown would be the perfect time to embrace nature and see if her hair would eventually clean itself.
But she says: “As much as I love nature, this didn’t work for me. My husband said it smelt like old biscuits.
“I wanted to see if it would start to self-clean – but I learned it would never do that.
“It was all about getting my scalp back to its natural state and every fortnight I’d use apple cider vinegar on it.
“But I’d then get dandruff for two days, then I’d have one day of it looking nice and then it would go back to being greasy. So I had to wash it before I went back to work. My husband said I looked like a wilding out of Game of Thrones.”
Nicola felt confident returning due to the safety measures put in place.
She says: “It’s very strange when you come in and you have your temperature checked. And I get hay fever, so I feel like if I sneeze people might think I’m ill and start spraying me with bleach. But I felt really safe going back to work. Emmerdale have been really on it and have put so many measures in place to keep us safe.”
One thing Nicola will not miss now that she is back filming is home-schooling. She admits: “I am a terrible teacher. I’m OK if we’re outside doing walks and looking at nature, but sitting down trying to teach a five-year-old English and maths is not easy.
“I think it was about week seven he let me know I wasn’t a good teacher – he didn’t hold back. I now think teachers deserve medals.”
- Emmerdale is on Monday, Wed-nesday and Friday next week, ITV.
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