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| Chrissie and Robert look on in horror |
EMMERDALE'S upcoming disaster week is promising to be the most explosive in the soap's history, when two of the biggest storylines collide with typically catastrophic consequences.
It's the week from hell in the Yorkshire Dales next week and no-one is safe as the cast and crew have hinted that several fan favourites may be bowing out in a body bag.
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| The helicopter crashes into the wedding venue roof |
Fans will know that blushing bride Debbie Dingle (Charley Webb) is set to wed her farmer beau Pete Barton (Anthony Quinlan) – but it's not going to be happily ever after for these star-crossed lovers.
Naughty Debbie has been sleeping with her fiancé's brother Ross (Michael Parr) and the cat is going to be let out of the bag, leaving the big day destined to end in tragedy.
But smitten Pete will also find his romantic plans scuppered, when another revelation of cheating in the village puts his surprise helicopter ride in jeopardy.
In a jealous rage, Chrissie White (Louise Marwood) will go on the rampage, setting fire to her husband Robert's prized car after learning of his affair with Aaron Livesy (Danny Miller).
The treacherous blaze will soon flare out of control causing a stack of gas canisters to explode just as the helicopter swoops by overhead.
The explosion will cause the helicopter to hurtle on a doomed trajectory towards the village hall where the unsuspecting wedding party are celebrating – injuring many of the guests and killing off at least one major cast member. But who will meet their fate?
Kate Oates, the ITV soap's producer, was careful to consider the 2013 Glasgow helicopter crash when planning the disastrous storyline.
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| Chrissie's fire will cause an explosion |
Two years ago, a police helicopter crashed into the Clutha Vaults pub in Scotland, killing 10 people, but Kate decided that the events were sufficiently different so as not to upset viewers.
"I think editorially, whenever you're looking at any potential disaster scenario you have to consider it very carefully," she said. "We were really, really careful to make it clear what the cause of the accident is.
"It's set up over a scrapyard, over a marital dispute, where a gas canister explodes and it's a chain of events. It was something that we considered because obviously our intention is always to entertain people, to give them a good story, to thrill them, to upset them in certain kinds of ways sometimes, but it would never be our intention to mimic something like that.
"So we kept it very deliberately far apart. It's not something we were concerned about because we made the decision very carefully."
Kate was also aware that soap buffs would compare the events of the forthcoming disaster week with the soap's famous plane crash in 1993 – which saw an aeroplane crash into the village, killing off four major characters and attracting a record-breaking 18million viewers.
"I think it's the nature of soap viewers now to compare it not just to the plane crash of '93, but with the tram crash in Corrie and the siege for us. It's apples and oranges really, because they're very different stories," she said.
"Any comparison is welcome because that was an iconic moment of Emmerdale history and that's great.
"But this is very different, the show is so different and it's evolved. I'm sure people will compare, but they're very different and hopefully when people watch the episodes, they'll forget about other soap disasters and just become involved with the story. That's all I want."
But she has confirmed that at least one person is going to die as a result of the catastrophic helicopter crash – but fans will have to tune in to find out who.
Emmerdale disaster week starts on ITV at 7pm on August 3.
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