THE show must go on ­— and not even a pandemic was going to stop the staging of a high school performance.

The production team at Bolton School certainly had to think a little bit more creatively to stage their traditional festive performance.

This year they had chosen an adaptation of Frank Capra’s classic Christmas film “It’s a Wonderful Life” as their yuletide offering.

The Chapeltown Road school called upon video company Sitcom Soldiers, founded by Old Boys Ben Thornley and Chris Jones to produce a filmed version of its stage production.

The cast auditioned online, rehearsed via Zoom for month, and rehearsed in-person for just a few days, in bubbles to create a socially distanced theatre for film.

The school’s Great Hall was transformed into a socially distanced film set for three days.

A couple of the cast had to isolate at home during the filming days but through technology were still able to feature in the film as celestial voices.

The film was streamed into people’s homes with head boy Charlie Griffiths, playing George Bailey, and Senior Monitor Jude Ashcroft, playing Henry F. Potter, compered the evening.

The interval included musical performances and a school community crowd-sourced film which explores the ingredients of a wonderful life.