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DJ Jamz Supernova on how nightlife will change after coronavirus.

My last gig pre-lockdown was a bucket-list moment, playing to a packed club in Johannesburg's Braamfontein district.

During my travels I'd heard whispers of a potential lockdown in the UK but being so far away from home it didn't feel real.

I landed back on 16 March and by the end of the week I was working from home. A week later the UK went into lockdown and after that all my summer gigs were cancelled.

Perhaps if I'd been younger losing all those gigs would have had a profound effect on my mental health. But it was hard to feel emotionally attached to something that was completely out of my control.

It was a loss that everyone in my field was experiencing - some steeper than others.

My first thought was how to stay relevant over lockdown and my second was streaming.

Clubs had closed and suddenly we were all trying to find ways to work from home.

I wasn't the only DJ to have this idea – all you had to do was flick between platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitch and YouTube to be entertained in your living room.

For DJs, lockdown was a period of trial and error – trying out different platforms to stream on, getting the sound to work and perfecting the camera frame.

I still had some great gigs in quarantine, like a live set for a music magazine and creating a Black Lives Matter-focused mix for a brand.

I also enjoyed sharing videos on Instagram of me creating some of my favourite blends on the decks. It was great to see them get such a positive reaction.

I went from doing my Radio 1Xtra show in a studio to broadcasting from my living room and in a new documentary, Is This The End Of Clubbing?,  I set out to find out what clubbing might look like post-Covid.

I met up with DJs Plastician and Sherelle – the latter of whom had a whole summer of gigs cancelled. This year would have been huge for her with a packed-out summer run and I wanted to find out how she'd been coping with the plug on 2020 being pulled.

"I've been putting music from my label on Bandcamp [a website where musicians can upload their tracks]," she says. "It's been a saving grace."

Plastician thinks that people won't be able to resist partying like the pre-Covid days but big-name DJs will have to distance themselves from illegal events.

"People are saying it's going to go back to illegal warehouse raves," he says. "There is a bit of that going on. The longer this goes on, the tension is going to build inside people who are like, 'I can't not go out, I'm willing to risk my own health.'

"It will get to that point if there's not enough protection of our venues. The raves will go into the forest.

"That kind of gig can't be frequented by an established household name, they wouldn't be able to put their brand next to something considered dangerous. So there is a bit of a chance for new DJs to build a community there."

The government has announced that there will be tough penalties for organisers of illegal raves, with fines up to £10,000.

Venues were facing tough times even before Covid, with smaller venues in particular falling victim to rising rents or seeing their premises sold to developers.

Since I made the documentary, the government stepped in with a £2.25m emergency fund for up to 150 small venues who'd had to close their doors throughout lockdown.

Other venues saw the lockdown period as a chance to diversify.

Bristol's Lakota and Tola in Peckham, London, renovated their premises and modified the layout to adhere to social distancing measures, as well as adding a roof terrace and beginning to serve food. For them, the party could restart – or at least a new, distanced version of a party – when pubs were given the all-clear to reopen on 4 July.

I was inspired by what the owners of Gretchen, my favourite club in Berlin, were doing, too. While they didn't want to transform their venue into anything other than a club, they teamed up with other German clubs to campaign on the challenges facing clubs and present them to the government.

Their work felt really progressive and got me thinking about British nightlife and the threat of gentrification. UK clubs are so important to electronic music from all around the world – without clubs, would the British scene lose its footing?

Elsewhere, a group of housemates launched Queer House Party, a weekly online party during lockdown that became a hub of inclusivity with BSL interpreters and audio description for those with disabilities. For disabled clubbers who struggled sometimes at venues before Covid it was a revelation.

"The norm for me when I'm drunk is to sign-sing," says Max, who went to two of the online events. "Because of my disability I can't do a lot of dancing. Queer House Party has shown how important accessibility is. There's no downside."

"Clubbing isn't usually accessible," adds Hannah, another Queer House Party fan. "People sometimes want to talk in your ear and you have to explain to them you're lip reading."

For them, the lockdown gave rise to an inclusive event that they hope venues can learn from when club nights can finally start again.

I caught up with JoJo Sanubi, founder of club night Recess and online station No Signal. Like many promoters, he's seen venues going under before the pandemic struck.

"In the time since we've done Recess, we've seen two venues close – one because of regeneration, and one because of Covid," he says. He'd like to see the powers that be make more effort to support London's nightlife.

"I don't think they care about nightlife in London. I feel like the people who run the city don't understand what nightlife means to people," he says.

Despite his concerns, his lockdown has been successful – the launch of his radio station saw millions of listens and a wave of attention in the media and the first post-lockdown Recess night sold out.

I got to experience a socially distant party by accompanying Sherelle to her first gig back.

A few mates and I headed down to Brixton Jamm to watch her, and while it was weird at first, we soon settled in and had a great night out.

If there's a positive that we can take from clubs temporarily closing it's that we won't take them for granted again – and some people have taken it on themselves to make clubbing better than it was before.

The future of clubbing looks different but that doesn't mean the party has to stop.

DJs and club promoters worked hard during lockdown to make sure they had something to offer when the rules eased up, and with support – from punters, the government, and each other – they hope the show can go on.

Watch Is This The End Of Clubbing? on iPlayer now.