New episodes of Emmerdale will continue to be broadcast throughout the lockdown, ITV has said.

The number of new programmes being aired weekly will temporarily decrease from three to two in order to ensure that the programme can stay on air.

Filming of Emmerdale was initially halted in March because of Covid-19, however the programme’s cast and crew returned to work last week.

The new episodes will show characters “experiencing the trials and tribulations” of lockdown, according to a tweet from the soap’s official account.

They have been filmed with scaled-down teams and social distancing measures in place.

The new episodes will be aired from June 8, when ITV will reduce the transmission of new weekly programmes from three to two, with the soap being shown on Mondays and Wednesdays.

This will last for three weeks before the soap returns to its previous broadcast schedule.

The Duchess of Cornwall visits Coronation Street – Manchester
(Dave Thompson/PA)

Coronation Street, another of ITV’s soaps, is set to resume filming within weeks, actor Helen Worth earlier told This Morning.

Last week the BBC’s director of content Charlotte Moore told the Telegraph that filming for EastEnders would resume by the end of June.