Emmerdale viewers were convinced Friday's episode contained a worrying sign the show was going to run out of episodes in lockdown.

The soap is currently running on a reduced schedule to account for the fact that no new footage can be filmed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But when Woolpack chef Luke Posner, played by Max Parker, had a scene tonight, the show addressed the virus for the first time ever.

He was seen singing happy birthday while washing his hands in the kitchen, which pointed to one of the earliest recommendations to stop the spread of the virus.

Luke was singing happy birthday to himself while washing his hands

The public were initially told to wash their hands for the length of time it takes to sing happy birthday.

Luke was warbling: "Happy birthday to you... happy birthday sanitiser..." a clear indication that the coronavirus panic had begun when the scene was filmed.

Victoria Sugden, played by Isabel Hodgins, walked in and asked him: "Were you just singing happy birthday?"

He explained to Victoria that he was abiding by the new guidelines

Luke replied: "Yeah, it's how we're supposed to time washing our hands."

Observant viewers predicted this means the halt on filming is beginning to catch up with the show.

"Singing happy birthday...uh oh must not be long for them to run out of eps #emmerdale " tweeted one.

Viewers predict this means the current episodes were filmed at the start of the pandemic and shortly before filming halted

" #Emmerdale Assuming if he's doing the Happy Birthday hand washing, this means this ep was filmed before lockdown and we don't have many more episodes left. Boo," wrote another.

"Obviously we are getting very close to when filming stopped under lock down. Luke explaining the happy Birthday length hand washing. God I hope emmerdale is allowed back to filming soon," worried another.

"Ahh singing happy birthday so this was filmed right at the start of the Covid #Emmerdale " noted a fourth.

MirrorOnline has reached out to a rep for Emmerdale for comment.

* Emmerdale airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7pm on ITV