'Coronation Street' star Andy Whyment expects to return to work in early June.

Andy Whyment

Andy Whyment

The 39-year-old actor - who plays Kirk Sutherland in the ITV soap - has revealed he's looking forward to restarting the show in the coming weeks, with filming having been suspended since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Discussing plans to return around June 8, Andy told TalkSport: "That's all dependent on government.

"It's going to be completely different because of all the distancing, so it's going to be interesting times when we go back.

"I think they had about eight episodes half-filmed, so they're going to concentrate on getting them finished first and that will give us another three weeks then. I do think ITV will want to get us back up to six episodes a week as soon as they can."

Andy is also eager to work on plans for the soaps's 60th anniversary later this year.

But he admits the show will be noticeably different when it does return.

The actor - who joined 'Coronation Street' in 2000 - shared: "It's a massive year for Corrie because we're 60 in December, so we need to get back filming ASAP and crack on again. But once we've got those eight episodes filmed it will give us a little more leeway.

"There's going to be no kissing or holding hands. If Kirk is walking down the street with Beth we sometimes link, or hold hands. But there's going to be none of that going on.

"But everyone is going to have to get used to it. I'm sure we'll be fine."