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Filming at northern soaps Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks has been disrupted today due to heavy snowfall.

Only days after production resumed following the annual fortnight closure for Christmas, severe weather conditions over the past 24 hours resulted in three of the Big Four soaps' filming being cancelled completely or ending early.

At Granada Studios in Manchester, shooting for two of Coronation Street's three daily filming units have been suspended, while nearly all of the show's cast due failed to make it.

A Corrie spokesperson confirmed: "We have three directors working at a time, and two can't work today because they were filming outside. 95% of cast members didn't make it in. Because it's the beginning of the year, filming can be jigged around."

They added: "It has to be very extreme for us to stop."

Meanwhile, Emmerdale's purpose-built outdoor village set on the Harewood estate in Leeds is covered in snow, forcing producers to cancel the day's outdoor filming. Indoor filming at Yorkshire Television's Kirkstall Road studios, however, remains unaffected.

An Emmerdale spokesperson said: "The whole village is covered in snow, so the decision was taken to cancel filming this morning. All other filming is ongoing as normal."

Hollyoaks' base at Lime Pictures in Childwall, Liverpool was also badly affected by the adverse weather as four of the day's five shoots were cancelled, while the fifth wrapped early.

A spokesperson for Hollyoaks told DS: "The majority of the cast and crew couldn't get into work this morning, so four of the five filming blocks were cancelled for the day. The one remaining crew finished early due to the worsening weather conditions."

The only soap to remain unaffected by the snow is EastEnders, whose base is at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.

A Walford source this afternoon told DS: "Not one flake of snow has landed on the Square, so filming's continuing as normal. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it stays that way!"

Digital Spy