Maureen Lipman praises 'clever' Corrie but admits filming amid pandemic is 'frightening'

Maureen Lipman admitted it is "a bit frightening" filming \'Coronation Street\' amid the coronavirus pandemic, but praised the way the soap is shooting scenes.

The \'Corrie\' star - who plays Evelyn Plummer in the long-running soap - is pleased the show is back at its regular output of six episodes a week, and she admitted there are some "very clever" tactics being used to film scenes while abiding by the guidelines.

She said: "It\'s weird. You get your temperature taken when you go in. It\'s very cleverly done.

"I\'ve got a scene coming up where I play Scrabble with Roy and we\'re actually at two places, with the board being passed from one to the other.

"But you will never know that when you see it.

"It gets done, and they\'re back to six eps a week. It\'s a bit frightening, obviously, but you\'ve got to keep working."

The 74-year-old star is in the more at-risk coronavirus category, due to being over 70, and she revealed 88-year-old Bill Roache - who plays Ken Barlow - is back in the studio and "raring to go".

Speaking on \'Good Morning Britain\', she added: "I saw Bill Roache in the studio. He\'s not on yet, but he\'s raring to go.

"Roy - David Neilson - is back and myself, and Paul Copley.

"The rest ... they\'re little babes, so they\'re tough ones."

Maureen recently admitted it was "challenging" filming the show amid the pandemic, but assured fans the \'Corrie\' cast and crew were "throwing everything we\'ve got [at it]."

She said: "We did a sort of fight scene last week and I\'m trying to get between two men who are two metres apart, and I\'m in the middle going, \'Pack it in, pack it in.\'

"It\'s challenging, we are having to be resourceful, it\'s a war, a war against a virus and we\'re having to throw everything we\'ve got [at it]."