• EastEnders show has resumed its shooting from the end of June 2020.
• But the coronavirus restrictions in filming are still in place.
• Social distancing has to be practiced at all times on the sets during the filming of the show.

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Recently, EastEnders producers revealed how they are cheating on the kissing scenes so that they can adhere to social distancing and follow the government regulations for filming.

And now, they have revealed that in some of the scenes, the real-life partners of the stars are used as body doubles for the kissing scenes.

EastEnders and the filming of the show

The EastEnders show’s bosses have begun the filming of the show from the end of June 2020. They are trying to stick to the government guidelines on social distancing for filming, but at the same time, they do not want the viewers to lose the enjoyment of the show.

How could the show go on without the kissing scenes? It is very much an integral part of the shooting and the story.

Last time, the show bosses had revealed that they use a plastic screen in between so that the stars can have kissing scenes and yet not face the risk of coronavirus transmission.

These are later removed in post-production. And now, they have also told about another way that they cheat on camera and still get the kiss scenes done.

The second method of kissing scenes on the BBC soap

After three months of pause, the show EastEnders will begin airing on 7 September. The bosses are not disclosing the secrets of behind-the-scenes kissing scenes within government rules for social distancing.

Another measure that the crew of the show is using to bypass the problems of coronavirus during kiss scenes is to get the star’s real-life partner on the set. They use him or her as the opposite character’s body double and carry on with the kissing scene safely.

The show’s executive producer Jon Sen said:

“We hit on the idea of [using] supporting artists from the same household to reflect the world outside…. or a husband and wife who would be walking down Bridge Street and of course they can get closer together than the two meters,”

Jon added:

“It really adds to the sense of life.”

Other close scenes -how they are shot?

Besides the kissing scenes, scenes in some areas such as the pub cannot show people sitting at a distance of 2 meters from each other.

Therefore, the producers use clear Perspex screens in between the stars and these are not invisible on camera. Additionally, they use computer-generated composite shots.

Jon said:

“The clear perspex screens allow us to bring people really close together. And that’s really good because it gives an intimacy to the performance that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”

The temperature of the cast and crew is also checked before entering the studio. Also, a one-way system is created around the studio. Jon added:

“Our greatest challenge is that we have several family units, that’s the nature of EastEnders and soap,”

“Families who would be in the same household, so not at 2m distances. But obviously they are played by actors who are obeying social distancing. So there’s a huge challenge at the heart of it.”

And stars and crew over the age of 70 years and those with underlying health conditions are not allowed on the set.

Also, read Heathrow airport all set to open a new COVID test center which will provide rapid results and thus avoid quarantines for inbound passengers!