Emmerdale fan favourite Priya Kotecha is set to leave the Dales next week as the ITV soap has confirmed her exit storyline.
Fiona Wade's final scenes as Priya will air next week following reports last October that the actress had decided to leave her role after first joining the show in 2011.
It has now been confirmed that Fiona finished filming late last year and ITV spoilers have revealed her final moments on the Dales next week.
Priya is set for a fiery exit when her past trauma from being trapped by crazed killer Meena Jutla (Paige Sadhu) comes back to haunt her.
The moment stems from scenes in Take A Vow, when Priya is reminded of the maize maze when a veil goes up in flames from nearby candles during an event.
Priya freezes in fear as the memories of that day she sustained terrible burn injuries comes rushing back.
Priya flees the scene as Leyla Cavanagh ( Roxy Shahidi ) steps in to salvage the situation – yet when her colleague then fails to remember why this is so significant for her, Priya is hurt by the lack of support.
The following day, Priya opens up to Take A Vow client Justin at the Hop about why she found the veil mishap so upsetting, prompting him to invite her for a coffee so they can talk further.
Justin says how impressed he is with Priya and as they chat, he offers her a job with his company in London – the very same job he already offered Leyla.
However, the twist leaves Leyla feeling devastated and betrayed by her friend, as she accuses Priya of sabotaging her dream of starting afresh away from Emmerdale.
Yet, Priya is ready for her own fresh start – only for her plans of moving away to go from bad to worse when David Metcalfe learns she is going to take their daughter Amba with her.
David reacts with a rash decision and crosses the line when he makes off with little Amba.
When Priya realises what has happened, she panics, but David's son Jacob and father Eric Pollard both urge her not to call the police to report the disappearance of her daughter.
Meanwhile, it turns out desperate David has fled and is hiding out in an anonymous cottage – but Leyla manages to track him down to try and talk some sense into him.
But he's in denial and refuses to listen to reason, instead choosing to double down on the madness when he locks Leyla in the bathroom at the cottage to stop her from calling the police.
Back in the village, at this point Priya loses patience waiting for David to do the right thing and dials 999 to report him.
While the following scenes and details on the storyline are being kept under wraps, Priya will leave Emmerdale as part of these tense episodes.
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
