'Emmerdale' boss Jane Hudson insists the soap will provide "escapism" for the nation amid the latest coronavirus lockdown.
Jane Hudson
The ITV show will be allowed to continue filming despite the new restrictions, and the producer has pledged to help keep Brits entertained during the ongoing health crisis.
She said: "Welcome to 2021, what a start to the new year. 'Emmerdale' is opening up while everything else is closing down - we’re here to entertain our fans and viewers, we haven’t locked down our imaginations over the next 12 months.
"We have a very much loved character coming back to the village - they are fantastic, light up the screen, the actor is shooting already, we are massively excited. That’s coming up very soon!
"We have births, weddings, funerals, relationships starting and ending. It’s a massive year - we have loads coming up. We will keep drip feeding across the year. We are still shooting - we stood down in March as there were no safety procedures in place.
"We returned in May and our strict procedures are safe - we have social distancing and masks. Everyone is glad to be on set so we will continue. It is so crucial that people have something familiar and it’s escapism."
Jane thinks soaps have proven to be more valuable than ever amid the pandemic.
She told Metro.co.uk: "Soaps are invaluable - all of them. We’re all there making sure viewers have that place to escape to for a night. We are shooting, that will continue, touch wood!
"We have two new characters - Charles and Ethan. They don’t come quietly, they come in with a bang that keeps on exploding - lots coming up, some things they don’t even know about. There’s lots going on. We’re about to do a script edit for our April scripts!"