Due to cases of COVID-19 in the team, the resumption of filming of District 31 has been postponed to January 10.
Initially, the shootings of the popular crime drama were to restart on Monday, but the Omicron variant came to confuse the issue. The decision to postpone the return to work was taken last week, a few days after Christmas, when Fabienne Larouche reactivated her “crisis unit”.
“It is for a matter of safety, explained the producer, reached by telephone. We didn’t want to start over and then have to stop. And above all, we don’t want someone to fall ill. ”
At the last news, the members of District 31 who have recently tested positive have mild symptoms. Most are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Those who have had it speak of a bad cold. Some are asymptomatic. And no one is in the hospital, ”said Fabienne Larouche, who revealed that she herself contracted COVID-19 last fall, in the midst of the Delta variant.
For the moment, the technicians and all the actors must take back the necklace next Monday, but nothing is set in stone. Things could change depending on the evolution of the virus.
Fans of Commander Chiasson and company, rest assured: this decline should not affect the broadcast of the episodes. We use the conditional (“should”), because if it was necessary that Aetios, production box behind District 31, or forced to postpone this cover for several weeks, the bank of filmed and edited episodes could run out.
Tightening of the rules
One thing is certain: Omicron is forcing a tightening of the rules at District 31. Everyone must wear the mask at all times, outside and inside, except of course the actors during the takes.
Staging will also be affected. Viewers should expect to notice more on-screen distancing, much like in September 2020, when the Guide to workplace health standards for audiovisual production required a two-meter gap between each actor.
Fabienne Larouche also intends to require the vaccination passport. Technicians who have not received their two doses will be assigned to tasks that do not require them to come into contact with other people.
The DD Marie-France Raynault, a public health specialist who has been supporting the cultural community since the summer of 2020, presented her recommendations to Fabienne Larouche in recent weeks. The producer will apply them, especially those concerning dinner.
“People should not eat together,” summarized the producer. They must each have lunch in their box, each on their own. ”
The current situation does not seem to worry him too much. Fabienne Larouche says that at the start of the pandemic, the level of tension was much higher.
“The first time we started filming again, in July 2020, we were so on edge that we couldn’t sleep! But over the past two years, we realized that by following the measurements, we did not have an outbreak. This is why everyone is so much less stressed. ”
” One day at a time ”
With the COVID-19 toll currently approaching 15,000 new cases per day, it was to be expected that at least one production would suffer the consequences. Today we only talk about District 31 because in that first week of January, it was the only fiction series on the schedule.
Elsewhere on Radio-Canada, the resumption of program recordings such as 1res time, We will tell each other and Everybody talks about it is only scheduled from January 10, informs us the head of public relations of the network, Julie Racine.
“We will see what happens one day at a time,” she said.
Due to the holiday break, TVA and Noovo were unable to answer our questions.
In addition, Fabienne Larouche liked the parody of District 31 ofInfoman 2021, which revealed the existence of COVID 31, a spare series bringing together the characters ejected or killed from the original, signed Luc Dionne, ready to take over if filming is suspended during a fifth wave. In the extract, Jean-René Dufort, Chantal Lamarre and MC Gilles played sergeant-detectives alongside former comedians of District 31 : Sébastien Delorme (Poupou), Geneviève Brouillette (Gabrielle Simard), Patrick Emmanuel Abellard (Léopold Jean), Catherine-Audrey Lachapelle (Virginie Francœur), Emmanuel Auger (Christian Phaneuf) and Eve Aubert (Sophie Carignan).
“As my grandmother used to say: if you’re not worth a laugh, you’re not worth much,” said Fabienne Larouche.