Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw has revealed that Paddy Kirk's (Dominic Brunt) suicide storyline was in the pipeline for years.
Much-loved Paddy is currently in turmoil following his wife Chas Dingle's (Lucy Pargeter) affair with Al Chapman (Michael Wildman) and now his grief and isolation is set to take a devastating turn as he leaves the village with the aim to take his own life.
While unhappily living with Chas as they co-parent their daughter Eve, his mental health has spiralled as he's had to cope with the constant reminders of Chas' adultery, the grief of losing their daughter Grace and daily arguments between the broken couple.
However, Emmerdale producer Laura has shared that the storyline took years to play on-screen as they were waiting for the right time.
She told What to Watch and other media: "The idea had been floating around for a few years really. We knew at Emmerdale that we really wanted to shine a light on men’s mental health and how middle-aged men are more likely to die by suicide than any other age group, staggering facts on that.
"But sometimes with stories like this one — and was the case with this one — you can have a brilliant idea of a story that you want to play but it could be years until you play it, if at all because it’s all about the characters they’ve got to be in the right place at the right time and it’s got to all be character led, they’ve got to drive that story.
"So we had this idea a few years ago and then following the death of his daughter Grace and the breakdown of his marriage, then having spoken to Andy’s Man Club and Samaritans and looked at all the case studies it felt like now was the right time that we could play this story with Paddy."
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7.30 pm on ITV1, with a hour-long episode on Thursdays — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on ITVX.
