'Emmerdale' stars open up on real-life terror of bridge stunt

Emmerdale stars left dangling from a bridge in a dramatic episode have spoken of the real-life terror they felt during filming the stunt.

Monday night's episode saw Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) and Charles Anderson (Kevin Mathurin) plunge from a broken rope bridge into troubled waters below during a disastrous survival challenge.

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But the terrifying scenes won't be confined to just two characters, as David Metcalfe (Matthew Wolfenden) and Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins) were left hanging on for dear life from the ropes and are set to join Manpreet and Charles in the water tonight (Tuesday) as they fight for their lives.

Wolfenden admitted it was a nightmare shoot for him and said Hodgins had to keep him calm during filming.

He said: "I’m not great with heights. When we had to do the bridge stuff, Isabel was just absolutely amazing.

"We were on wires so there was no way we could fall but when you're 60ft above the water and you’re clinging onto a broken bridge, it’s absolutely terrifying.

"I was pretty nervous about the bridge but it all flipped with the water stuff as Izzy wasn’t too confident in the water and I love being in the water.

"It’s funny because our characters were so opposite to us. Victoria was supposed to be scared of heights and David is trying to help her but in reality, it was the other way round.

"I was petrified and Izzy took it all in her stride."

Hodgins said: “I’m at ease with heights so I don’t understand how if you know you’re clipped on to a harness you can be scared of falling. Matthew on the other hand is not OK with heights so he did really well considering.

"Victoria was obviously supposed to be the scared one and David was supposed to be the confident one. That wasn’t the case in real life.”

Wolfenden added that memories of the hair-raising stunt were still fresh in his mind.

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He said: "The bridge was so high though. Even the stunt guys commented on how high it was. I was pretending that I was a lot more confident than I was. Hopefully, I passed it off.

"Isabel on the other hand was fine. She was loving it. She was letting go and hanging off the rope she was on. It was pretty nerve-wracking for me.”

Emmerdale continues tonight at 7pm on ITV

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