Coronation Street uses COVID kissing doubles for Tyrone and Alina scene

Regular Corrie extra Alex Mulvaney and his wife Hannah stepped in for the smooch instead.

"My agent said that Coronation Street needed extras who were in a support bubble, and because I used to be an extra three times a week and they knew half of my family had done extra work on the show, it worked out perfectly," Mulvaney told BBC.

"My partner Hannah hadn't done any extra work before, but my agent knew she had dark hair like Alina's so I asked her if she wanted to do it," he added. "Hannah was nervous at first, but she is a big Coronation Street fan. I had been on set many times before, and I was able to talk her through what to expect - she was a bit star-struck when she saw the actors."

While the characters looked as though they were sitting closely together, they were in fact filmed reciting the dialogue separately. The footage was later composited together in post-production, creating the illusion they were chatting next to each other.

Meanwhile, ITV also revealed that the design department "taped a pair of sunglasses onto a telescopic radio aerial to ensure the actors had the correct eye line", so it appeared as though the actors were looking into each other's eyes.

As a result, Porojnicu described the scene leading up to the kiss as a "challenge" - but one she "really enjoyed".

"It was difficult not being able to look into each other's eyes for the emotion of the scene but Coronation Street came up with a clever way to cheat that with sunglasses on an aerial," the Corrie star explained.

"Everything that's been said in the scene leads to the kiss which is very important for Alina because it is the first time that she has said out loud to Tyrone that she is falling for him."

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