The UK government has given a green light for high-end TV and film productions to resume shooting in the United Kingdom as soon as employers have put in place coronavirus safety measures reports Deadline.
British prime minister Boris Johnson told the nation on Sunday that people who can’t work from home should return to their jobs as soon as possible once workplaces are ‘COVID-19 secure’.
While the government has not been specific whether this advice applies to shuttered high-end film and TV sets, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is reportedly now encouraging the industry to return to work.
The industry has been under lockdown for seven weeks and the move could allow new big-budget scripted projects to resume including “The Batman,” “The Little Mermaid” and major series like “The Witcher,” “Line of Duty” and “Peaky Blinders”. Marvel had plans to shoot their “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” film and “Moon Knight” series in the UK, plans which could resume.
The British Film Commission has drafted industry-wide safety protocols for high-end UK film and TV shoots. Said guidelines are designed to keep sets safe from coronavirus by introducing measures including pre-shoot safety training, testing and quarantine of foreign actors. Previous leaked reports have said that there will need to be social distancing and certain precautions like temperature tests.
But just because the government has lifted the restrictions, that doesn’t mean the studios or productions are going to return to work just yet with plenty of people within the industry and government concerned these restrictions are being lifted too soon.
