EMMERDALE’S Viv Hope star Deena Payne spoke on the Distinct Nostalgia podcast about the history of the show and how it has changed throughout the years.
Prior to her character’s death in a fire in 2011, the 67-year-old actress spent nearly two decades portraying the classic busybody role. The soap’s initial focus was on a single family living in the Yorkshire dales and their daily lives on a farm, but as the audience expanded, the show had to expand with more dramatic plotlines.
The podcast presenter discussed the horrific plane disaster that occurred on the program back in 1993 and signaled the end of Beckindale with Deena.
He explained to the audience that four important characters were killed off because several cast members who had been in the serial for a while weren’t happy with the plot.
He continued, “It was a risk for Yorkshire TV to do the crash because, despite being extremely popular, it probably wasn’t attracting as many viewers as they would have hoped.
It was a significant move, so wasn’t it a bit of a gamble for them?
I think it was a pretty large gamble, Deena retorted.
In humor, I believe they pushed it out the other way just as much as they did the first.
The actress went on to discuss how the soap opera’s popularity increased as more humor was introduced into its scenes.
“It started to be extremely funny, there was a lot of comedy, not the usual comedy, but it was funny,” she remarked.
They had a wonderful balance and could handle the traumas because they could grin as well. In my opinion, that was one of the gifts Emmerdale provided you.
The Beckindale Air Disaster, a fictional plane catastrophe that occurred on the show, resulted in 18 million viewers, a record for the serial opera.
Elsewhere in the interview, the actress revealed a time where a stunt on set went horribly wrong.
She said: “We [characters Kim Tate and Vic Windsor] were right in front of a really huge bale of hay stacked up which was to catch on fire.
“They had pipes of gas, little gas pipes with little holes so that the flames would liquor around the hay.We were instructed to pour buckets of water all over the straw bales as soon as this began.
- Former Emmerdale star Micael Parr announces new project
- EastEnders fans go wild as Alfie Moon makes unexpected return for Tommy
- Former Emmerdale star Michael Parr announces new project
- 12 huge EastEnders spoilers for next week
- EastEnders: What Grant Mitchell’s young daughter Courtney looks like now and she has famous cousin
- Anxiety prompted Coronation Street star Samia Longchambon to drop 40th birthday party
- Coronation Street spoilers: Stu’s big secret exposed as Yasmeen finds his missing daughter?
- Emmerdale legends Chris Chittell and Lesley Dunlop spotted at Great Yorkshire Show
- EastEnders spoilers: Mitch discovers Avery’s shocking secret after he dies
