Emmerdale boss Jane Hudson has poured cold water on the prospect of the soap temporarily replacing background artists with mannequins as a means of aiding social distancing on set – and branded it ‘insulting’ to consider that a dummy could do the work of an extra.
While some shows are said to be considering the move for crowded scenes – such as New Zealand soap Shortland Street – Jane has stated that she would rather reduce the scenes of crowds when adhering to social distancing than resort to replacing extras altogether.
She told Metro.co.uk: ‘I just think it’s quite insulting to supporting artists – to say a mannequin can do your job. Our sets aren’t that big, if you put a mannequin back there, you’d be able to tell – and knowing our luck the arm will fall off. No there’ll be none of that!’
However, things are very different on set since returning to production, with Jane hammering home the message that safety was the top priority for everyone.
She explained: ‘The biggest difference is the social distancing. We have our famous two metre pole and we physically bring it out on the set and hold it between actors and the crew. We have two metre distanced dots across every set and you stand on your dot – it’s like a big game of Twister.
‘Everyone who walks onto set to adjust a light, they have masks. The actors are in charge of their own props, which have been sanitised, cleaned and wiped down – no-one is allowed to touch them, the actors have full responsibility in bringing them on and off.
‘In one episode Lydia is reading a letter and Sam picks it up but we stopped the take in between and it was a different letter – Karen had to take hers away and James had to put his down before we got going again. It’s very smoke and mirrors. Danny Miller has had to wash up saucepans in a scene – it’s the most he’s touched saucepans, like ever.
‘Costume and makeup are in different rooms and radio through for continuity. It’s interesting how quick you get used to it. Our instinct is to hug each other so there’s that awkward moment at the start of a shoot but then once you get going, it feels normal and cast and crew have felt it’s the safest place to be right now. We have routes through the building, temperature checking, everyone is completely safe.’
However, the executive producer is hopeful that the audience won’t notice too much of a difference.
She said: ‘I hope you will be amazed how little you notice that they are two metres apart. There are some clever camera tricks involved. There’s a lot of choreography on the set so the actors all work around each other.
‘There will be little moments where you might expect a hug and they don’t but I’ve been on set the whole time and the end result amazed me. The director is just a genius – I am not quite sure how he did it.’
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