The vicious Emmerdale storm has sadly claimed its first victim — Harriet Finch (Katherine Dow Blyton).
In Emmerdale's hour-long 50th anniversary special episode on Sunday night, Harriet was on a quad bike as she searched for missing pregnant teen Amelia Spencer (Daisy Campbell) in the midst of the storm.
However, she was left fighting for her life when she suffered a serious crash and plunged into a ravine. The quad bike landed on top of her and she became trapped under the vehicle.
She was eventually found by Kim Tate (Claire King), who managed to free her love rival from the wreckage. But as she attempted to get help, a lightning bolt struck the quad bike, causing a huge explosion that blasted the pair across the woods.
In tonight’s episode (Monday, October 17), Kim came around after hitting her head on a rock following the blast. But when she checked Harriet’s pulse, her fear was confirmed — the former vicar had passed away.
Now that we're saying goodbye to the much-loved character after 10 years, Katherine has revealed the unusual souvenir she took away from the set when she left.
She said: "I’ve asked for the plaque that was removed from St. Mary's Church where it says Harriet Finch was the vicar. Hopefully somebody has saved that for me and I’ll get that. Seeing Harriet Finch up as the vicar was a particular high point for me."
Originally a police detective, Harriet was introduced to the soap as the second cousin of Edna Birch and was soon appointed as the feisty new village vicar.
She was involved in a number of major storylines over the years, but her standout memory working on Emmerdale was when Harriet had an affair with village bad boy Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley).
Katherine revealed: "Having an affair with Cain was stand-out and being involved in all the Malone storyline was a tricky one to do but enjoyable in a weird way. Working with Olivia Bromley (Dawn Taylor) has been an absolute joy. She’s one of the nicest, sweetest people. The highlights are with the people I’ve worked with."
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7.30 pm on ITV, with a hour-long episode on Thursdays — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on ITV Hub.
