Coronation Street bosses have no backup plan for anniversary episodes

\'Coronation Street\' bosses don\'t have a contingency plan for the upcoming 60th anniversary.

In December, ITV soap will celebrate six decades on air and the channel\'s director of television admitted the team are "hoping and praying" they will be able to film the special episodes in October with no backup in place after the cast and crew recently returned to set.

Speaking to Media Mole at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Kevin Lygo quipped: "\'Coronation Street\' is obviously way above any kind of pandemic and everything will be fine.

"No [contingency] - let\'s just hope and pray that we can make it.

"They\'re doing such a good job of filming now, it\'s still on air, so hopefully there will be ways of filming even if there is another surge."

Back in June, producer Iain MacLeod teased that there will be a love triangle as part of the milestone episodes, and he promised "essential" viewing for fans.

He said: "We\'ve got a classic love triangle in there, so we\'ve got essential soap viewing really."

However, some plans for the upcoming \'Corrie\' celebration have had to be shelved after production was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The filming gap means the team has had to ditch ideas for "bigger Hollywood-style elements" they were hoping to bring to the special episodes.

Iain explained: "What we\'ve had to strip out of our planning for the 60th was some of the bigger Hollywood-style elements, because after lockdown we didn\'t have the time to build and install all of the things we originally planned to do.

"So we\'ve peeled that all away, and much to my immense relief... what we\'ve discovered underneath those Hollywood layers is three [or] four really good stories."

And he even suggested fans may have to wait until 2021 to see the anniversary episodes, despite the 60-year milestone happening on December 9th this year.

He warned: "If it turns out things slow down or we have to lock down again, we\'ll still have the brilliant episodes, it just won\'t broadcast during 60th week. Maybe later in the year or 2021."