THE scenic village of Emmerdale has been plunged into the eye of the storm this week, with central characters already swept up in tragedy.
Harriet Finch, played by Katherine Dow Blyton, died on Sunday after falling from her quad bike and being caught up in an explosion caused by lightning.
Tense scenes showed Kim Tate, portrayed by Claire King, survive after falling from her horse and hitting her head on a rock in the same electric storm.
But as the chaos reaches its crescendo for the soap’s epic 50th anniversary episode on Saturday, director Tim O’Mara has revealed the death toll won’t stop there.
He said: “No one is safe. There’s a possibility of eight or nine characters not being around for very long.
“We do go to the hospital on a number of visits, a number of people hurt by debris flying around the village, there are accidents in the woods, trees falling on people.
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“There are massive accidents at the farm which might attract the attention of one or two characters.
“And there’s a massive problem in the village that will involve two of the other characters.
“Plus there’s some stunts in the woods nearby.
“And of course, there’s a wedding. So when you mix all of that up, all these ingredients, it’s going to be sensational.
“No one is safe.”
The devastation continued on Monday night, when James Hooton’s Sam Dingle was caught up in a herd of stampeding cows and was impaled on a digger’s spikes.
Millions of viewers are expected to tune in as the ITV soap reaches its deadly climax on Saturday.
Tim, who was speaking to ITV Yorkshire, added: “I really want to make Emmerdale more of a film this time around. It’s the most ambitious thing I have ever done.
“Viewers are in for a number of surprises, they will see parts of the village absolutely destroyed.”
The crew used high-powered wind machines to create 130mph monster gusts which flipped cars, destroyed buildings and tore up trees.
Nicola Wheeler, who plays Nicola King, said trying to film in the hurricane-like conditions was almost impossible.
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She added to the news channel: “I remember they cranked them up to 100% and you literally can’t walk against them. You just found yourself screaming at each other.”
On Thursday night, Emmerdale reigned supreme at the National Television Awards.
And it sounds like they’ve already bagged the record for most soap deaths.
