Three Emmerdale favourites will be left fighting for their lives in ‘heart-stopping’ new storyline

EMMERDALE bosses are to stage a massive stunt which will see three soap favourites trapped in a car after it plunges into a frozen lake.

In horrifying scenes filmed last week, Leyla Harding, played by Roxy Shahidi, is one of three women who will be seen fighting for their life as the vehicle sinks.

And sources told how ITV bosses pulled out all the stops to make the storyline as dramatic as possible.

Measures included dispatching a crew to cover an entire field with thick candle-wax, replicating the ice on the surface of a lake.

One soap insider said: “The bosses want viewers to have their hearts in their mouths when they see the car career off the road and into the water.

“It’s a nightmare scenario and everything was done to make sure this was a scene with real impact. Hours were spent creating a layer of ice, then the actors spent hours out on the frozen field in the pitch black trying to do the storyline justice.

“It will be a real heartstopper moment when it airs in January.”

The Sun on Sunday revealed earlier this year that Emmerdale favourite Roxy was being killed off after 16 years on the ITV soap.

Until now, the explosive circumstances of her exit had been kept secret.

Our revelation comes after Emmerdale bosses announced earlier this month that there will be a special one-hour episode in January that follows Leyla’s son Jacob Gallagher on a shift in a busy A&E ward.

They added that Jacob, played by Joe-Warren Plant, will be “pushed to his limits professionally and personally” as he deals with crises involving fellow villagers.

The latest news has sparked fan speculation that Jacob could be tasked with saving his mother’s life.

Roxy, who filmed her first scenes in Emmerdale in 2008, is the third star confirmed to leave the soap this year as bosses look to reduce cast numbers.

Lesley Dunlop, who plays Brenda Walker, is also leaving the Dales after 16 years.

Viewers will have to wait to learn if the two characters trapped in the sinking car with Leyla survive.

TOOTH HURTS, JOEL

WHAT is better than Joel Dommett?

Two Joel Dommetts, of course.

At least that is what the creative minds at The Masked Singer think.

Joel will unwrap the huge surprise on the ITV show’s Christmas special, on Boxing Day at 7.30pm.

Hidden inside Giant Joel is a celebrity, but viewers will have to wait until series six kicks off on January 4 to find out who it is.

Joel said: “When I first saw Giant Joel, I thought, ‘Is my nose really that shape?’ Then everyone confirmed it is and said ‘your teeth are that big’!

“My wife has said that I’m not allowed to keep it because we don’t have space, so I have told her that we need to buy a marginally bigger house.

“Maybe we can turn it upside down and turn it into a really cool laundry bin or something.”

I reckon Joel’s lovely wife Hannah Cooper-Dommett would rather bin it . . . 

SPLIT THE COST OF SERIES 4

FANS of legal drama The Split will be thrilled to learn the writer doesn’t want next week’s special to be the end.

The BBC’s two-part spin-off, which is set in Barcelona, comes after the third (and what was thought to be the final) series aired in 2022.

The special sees Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan return as lawyers Hannah and Nathan and airs on December 29 and 30, and will also be available on iPlayer.

Writer Abi Morgan said: “I’d love to write for it again. I just want to make sure the story’s there. I hope it will go forward in some way.”

Abi should set up a crowd-funding site so devotees can bankroll a return.

MARTIN’S MASTER PLAN

FINANCIAL whizz Martin Lewis reckons he is ready for battle on Taskmaster’s annual New Year Treat.

The Money Saving Expert enlisted help ahead of filming the Channel 4 show, hosted by comic Greg Davies and Alex Horne.

Martin said: “I probably shouldn’t admit this but I have an amazing research team on Money Saving Expert with about seven or eight seriously die-hard Taskmaster fans.

“I said to them, ‘Can you write me a briefing?’, because I’m the boss! I mean, I’m not some kind of tyrant, they loved doing it.

“So they made me this amazing Taskmaster briefing pack, which is like a lot of the research packs I normally work with, which included all this information on the way it works and tips on how to do it.”

Pretty sure that sucks the joy out of bumbling your way through Taskmaster’s challenges while viewers are all laughing at home.

GIRLS ALOUD won the ratings battle of ITV’s string of concert specials.

Some 1.8million watched their show, filmed at London’s O2 during their tour earlier this year, compared to 1.6million for Dua Lipa, 900k for Katy Perry and 750k for McFly.

Girlband fans are loyal.