NewsBite

Wentworth stars wait to resume filming after COVID-19 shutdown

Restarting filming on a show where sex and violence are key to the plot have the stars of Wentworth worried that social distancing could kill the tone of the hit prison-TV show

Corona fear will see birthrates in Australia slump

Wentworth star Susie Porter said she is worried that with the amount of sex and violence on the hit prison show, it will be quite some time before the crew can get back into filming.

In an interview with Dominique English in her web series Creatives On Zoom, Porter, who plays the show’s titular character Marie, described the moment when filming wrapped mid-scene as COVID-19 restrictions took hold.

“Yeah that was pretty wild that last day,” she said.

“We were filming something and the first AD (assistant director) who runs the set tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘Your cab is waiting outside,’ … and we basically finished that scene and then ran out the door and on to a plane.”

Susie Porter and Kate Jenkinson in a scene from Season Seven of Foxtel prison drama Wentworth.
Susie Porter and Kate Jenkinson in a scene from Season Seven of Foxtel prison drama Wentworth.

It has been two months since filming suddenly wrapped, but even if the Wentworth cast and crew are allowed to go back, the 1.5m social distancing will drastically alter the tone of the show.

“If the social distancing is still in place then it’s very difficult for us to do our job because there’s a lot of violence, there’s also a lot of intimate scenes – all of that stuff will be altered,” she said.

Fans of the 24-time Logie Award-winning show need not worry though, Porter assured the show would be back, it was just a matter of when.

“We will be going back it just depends when,” she told English.

“We have three months left to film so it’s quite a chunk.”

The first seven seasons of Wentworth are available to view on Foxtel Now.

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/wentworth-stars-wait-to-resume-filming-after-covid19-shutdown/news-story/a8d63af3e15c438d9fc75bb48057b01d