Val (played by Charlie Hardwick) was the long-suffering wife of Emmerdale stalwart Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell) with the pair becoming a comedy duo on the ITV soap due to their relentless bickering.
During their time as man and wife, the couple adopted wild child Amy Wyatt (formerly played by Chelsea Halfpenny) and helped her in the aftermath of the birth of her son Kyle as they didn’t realise she was pregnant.
After Amy left the village for a new life in Ireland, Val and her husband were on their own once again but when a helicopter crashed into the village hall and caused an almighty explosion in 2015, Eric’s life would be changed forever.
Val and her sister Diane Sugden (Elizabeth Estensen) were trapped in a hall of mirrors nearby and it was the former who met a grisly end but actress Charlie Hardwick, 58, has admitted she didn’t want her character to exit in such a way.
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine this morning, Charlie told host Christine Lampard, 40: “I loved Val. I really loved her relationship with Eric.
“I loved her love for Amy so when I found out they were going to kill her, I was absolutely devastated.
“I wanted to go back,” the Ackley Bridge actress admitted, as Christine said: “You didn’t quite think it would be a death.”
Charlie continued: “I played her for so long you just think I wanted to go off and find Amy somewhere and she’ll just live in Ireland until the sun sets.
“And then it’s like, ‘No, she’s going to be killed.’
“I got very defensive about it and a bit sulky and huffy and then I pulled myself together and got amongst the broken glass and did the scenes.”
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Charlie added: “It was just a shock but it’s always the case if they’re going to find a better story as an out that way because it’s all about storytelling.”
Val has since made a return to the village but in ghost form on Christmas Day 2017, haunting Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) when the bad boy was run down by a car.
If Val had survived her helicopter crash, another return could have been on the cards in the future.
Amy’s (now played by Natalie Ann Jamieson) return to the village could have been very different earlier this year if Val had joined her in Ireland, with the possibility the late character could have been reunited with her beloved husband.
Upcoming episodes will see Amy in the danger zone however as yer another tragedy rocks the Dales as a deadly blaze claims another resident’s life.
Amy and her mother Kerry Wyatt (Laura Norton) will accidentally cause a fire at the Sharma factory, leaving villager Tracy Metcalfe’s (Amy Walsh) life in peril.
Soaking about the factory fire, Tracy actress Amy Walsh, 32, said: “I was told that Tracy was going to be involved in a huge fire at the factory and I was like, ‘No!’
“So I was anxious, because that’s how the soap world is. You have to be prepared for your character possibly being written out one day,” the actress told The Sun.
Viewers will have to wait and see if Tracy is the unfortunate victim of Amy and Kerry’s discrepancy as several other names are in the running to be killed off.
