When will EastEnders end restrictions and return to normal?

There's no doubting that EastEnders and all the other soaps on television have done an impressive job keeping our favourite shows on tv over the last year, despite stringent restrictions making the whole production difficult and time consuming. But when will they be able to return to normal?

EastEnders ended production last year when the government increased the restrictions, but over a year on is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Coronation Street and Emmerdale are reportedly planning some big storylines for the autumn to celebrate the end of restrictions, allowing cast members to be close once again on screen, but that's on ITV. What about the BBC?

We suspect the BBC will lift restrictions on the East London based soap when the government scrap all of them on 19th July. If everything goes ahead as planned, then we would expect filming to resume to pre-pandemic times within weeks.

EastEnders bosses are rightly taking every precaution to keep cast and crew safe, so they will undoubtedly take a strict approach to the easing of restrictions, and some aspects of production could take longer than others to return to normal.

EastEnders bosses would love to see the full-length episodes return, as would the cast and crew of the show.

EastEnders actor Danny Dyer who plays pub landlord Mick Carter revealed to the Metro last year that the lack of socialising on set can prove quite 'tiring' and 'depressing'. "I don’t think we can keep it up forever," Danny said.

"Now there’s no green room to socialise in. We don’t catch up with each other’s days. All that stuff can be quite tiring and quite depressing, actually," he told the newspaper.

If the restrictions on filming are lifted in July, then we would expect see the changes on our screens by the end of August - beginning of September.

EastEnders airs weeknights on BBC One and all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.