Emmerdale fans have been teased a little bit more with what to expect from the epic storm soon to hit the village and leave mass destruction.
As those who love Emmerdale will know, this month is the soap’s 50th anniversary with lots of huge storylines set to be screened. One of them is a huge storm expected to hit during Emmerdale’s 50th anniversary episode set to air on Sunday, October 16.
It is expected to change the lives of many Emmerdale favourites and fans might even have to face up to saying goodbye to some much-loved characters. Designer Duncan Howell has revealed how the massive scale spectacle has been planned.
Read more: Emmerdale to host special tour for their 50th anniversary
Duncan said: “We wanted it to look realistic. I think on screen it really looks worse than it is. We did research into storm damage and wind damage.
“So we implemented as much as we could. In the heart of the village we needed to show it had been hit by the storm. The village is a character so when you start putting massive amounts of debris and tree branches, straw in the street and pulling the odd bit of wall down it looks big.
“Of course all the buildings are made of Yorkshire stone so they don’t get damaged but we removed the odd roof tile, and an occasional chimney pot needed to come down. A lot of it is dressing.”
While lots of destruction will be seen in the special episode viewers will be relieved to know bosses took many environmental issues into consideration. Duncan explained: “Research shows us that the boughs of trees and indeed whole trees come down in storms. So we felt we had to do that in places. But we only did it where it was really needed.
“There were about five smallish trees in total that we took down. However we will be planting at least three for every tree we took down. Obviously the environment is very important for us to protect. At one of the locations the farmer had two dead trees that we could use. So we took those for dressing.
“But we will replace them and plant ten trees as a goodwill gesture. The Harewood Estate (where Emmerdale is filmed) were magnificent with their generosity as they have a massive wooded area on the estate with lots of fallen dead trees. We used the big boughs to use as dressing and loads of dead branches too. It’s been brilliant.”
Another factor for consideration, given Emmerdale’s rural location, is what impact the storm has on Yorkshire’s animals. As part of the drama, viewers will see a cow stampede which provided a number of understandable challenges to film.
Duncan added: “This was one of the big elements of the week. A cow stampede has not been done on a soap to this extent. We began with conversations and lots of planning with the farmer. It was really important that this did not cause any harm or stress to these animals. The cattle we used all actually live on the farm.
“For the filming element we created a new cattle pen near to a run which was a fence running down to one of their fields. So when they came out of the pen they gathered to go down the run to their field. They know they get fed both in the pen but also in the field. We did a rehearsal which was useful as it ensured the producers and everyone was happy with what we were doing and it was recorded to ensure there was no distress or any stress being caused to the animals.
“We put their food on the back of a feed hopper and whizzed that down first so the cows had seen their food go. So when they came out of their pen they ran as a group to get to the food. It was successful. Of course there was a bit of trickery as we used a thing which we called ‘cow cam’. An amazing company called Animated Extras from Shepperton Studios created a cow’s head that could be puppeteered.
“This will enable the audience to see a cow’s point of view. In the scene, it will look as if the cows are running towards the Emmerdale characters as the cows stampede. It worked perfectly.”
And, there will be many, many Emmerdale fans wondering about the destruction caused by the storm with one part of the village particularly of interest…the allotment, of course. Concluding, Duncan joked: “No we didn’t touch the allotment as we don’t see it on screen in these episodes. You will be glad to hear it’s still going strong, growing its produce.”
You can visit our Emmerdale homepage to find the latest gossip about the soap and its stars. There you'll also find our Emmerdale features and news about the show's 50th anniversary plans.
Read next:
