Emmerdale’s 50th anniversary in 2022 was celebrated in style, with a catastrophic storm that shocked everyone when two iconic characters were killed off.
One of them was Liv (Isobel Steele), who became trapped under a caravan when it blew across the village.
The other was Harriet Finch (Katherine Dow Blyton), who, after setting off into the woods on her quad bike, fell down a steep hill and became trapped under the machine.
Kim Tate (Claire King) found Harriet and pulled her free, but a lightning bolt struck the bike, killing her.
The sudden departure devastated Emmerdale fans. For Dean Andrew, who plays Will Taylor aka Harriet’s ex, he recently reflected on these scenes and how upset he was to say goodbye to Katherine.
‘She was great, a really good actor, really down to earth. It’s one of the sadder things here – a lot of people have lost their partners along the way’, he said.
‘I know Claire [King] misses a couple of the boys – Michael and Graham, erm Andrew – and she misses working with them but it’s just part of losing good people along the way.’
Dean is currently embroiled in a huge storyline that has seen Will’s grandson Evan diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic pneumonia, whilst his ex-wife Rose (Christine Tremarco) has appeared in the Dales.
The family have began discussing ‘long term plans’ and how they need to find a good balance between life in the hospital, and life back in the village.
Back in March of this year, Katherine spoke about what happened in the lead up to her exit.
‘I got so many lovely messages after Harriet died. People going, she hasn’t even had a funeral, where’s her body? I just felt a bit sorry for Harriet, it is what it is’, she told the Soap From the Box podcast.
‘You have to suck it up and go, that’s showbiz! The irony is that was the first super soap week I’ve been involved with!’.
Reflecting on the conversation she had with bosses that confirmed Harriet would be leaving, Katherine explained:
‘I went up and they basically said, “We love Harriet and we’re going to give her a good death”. I did sit there for ten seconds thinking, have I done something wrong? They say don’t take it personally but it’s impossible not to.
‘I was taken aback. I said, “Well you don’t know what to do with me anyway, do you?”. I tried to get out of the building, sat in my car and burst into tears because it was a shock.’
She added: ‘I had been ready to go for a while, to be fair, but to make the decision to leave a good job is a big decision and I’m glad they made it because I possibly wouldn’t have been brave enough.’
The actress also went on to speak about Harriet’s character arc. Before her death, she suffered a breakdown and returned to her role as a police officer after working as the local vicar.
‘Going back to being a policewoman on the beat at my age was, I think, a bit left field’, she said.
‘For the first time in my nearly ten years, I felt uncomfortable in my own skin because it just felt wrong to me. When Harriet came in she was such a fabulous character, she was a bit naughty, a bit off the wall, she had a sense of humour. When did you last see Harriet laugh?’
She continued: ‘I think the problem is everything seems to be very sensational now, when you watch the old episodes, it was very much character-based.
‘You just think why has everything got to be conflict, murder, affairs? You can have a character that’s single or a happily married couple. I don’t know whether soaps are a victim of their own success because there is a limit, when you’re doing six episodes a week, what do you do to keep people interested?’
‘It just seems more of a competition between soaps to do the best stunts and the best trauma and tragedies rather than characters.’
