Weddings can be awkward at the best of times, but suffice to say, it doesn't get much more awkward than the groom’s ex arriving on the scene - unless of course that ex happens to be a serial killer with a score to settle.
Such is this case in Emmerdale this week as Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) and his bride-to-be Dawn Taylor (Olivia Bromley), tie the knot - only to be intercepted by Billy’s scorned ex Meena Jutla (Paige Sandhu).
The hotly awaited climax to the year long storyline has enraptured and intrigued over eight million fans for the duration, with Meena's murder spree - currently standing at four killings and three attempted - now reaching it’s dramatic conclusion.
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Speaking to the Mirror, Paige, 25, the actress behind Meena’s terrifying on screen presence said: "I have loved every second of playing Meena. The ending's incredible, better than I could ever have imagined, and I have already started crying!"
She did however, stress that now is the right time for Meena to finally get her comeuppance: "She is a psychopath and believes nobody will ever get the better of her. Psychopaths are incapable of feeling fear like we can."
Whether the villainous nurse actually manages to kill yet another victim or even get shot herself remains a closely guarded secret, but viewers won’t have long to wait as the story reaches its dramatic conclusion later this week.
Regular viewers of the popular ITV soap already know that Meena is furious that her ex Billy is marrying Dawn, when she herself feels it should be her walking down the aisle.
Unable to let the issue slide, the femme fatale puts into place a despicable plan for bloody revenge, with the final conclusion due to air on Thursday.
The upcoming scenes feature some dramatic stunts, with the actors and crew going to great lengths to make the storyline’s conclusion as memorable as possible.
Situated some 30ft high on a viaduct in the Yorkshire Dales after Meena kidnaps the newlyweds on a "trip" to the countryside, each of the involved stars had to wear a safety harness as their characters argue in a tense showdown with Meena declaring "one of you is not going to leave here alive.”
And with a gunshot scheduled to be involved in one of the upcoming scenes, Emmerdale bosses were taking no chances when it came to safety, following the tragic death of a cinematographer on movie set Rust late last year.
In tonight’s exciting scenes, viewers saw Meena kidnap Billy and Dawn, and hold them at gunpoint while ordering them to choose who will live.
Yet in the wake of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’s death, - when Alec Baldwin 's prop revolver discharged on the set of the film Rust last year, a number of safety procedures were overhauled to keep both the cast and crew safe.
Paige says: "From speaking to the gun handler people, their safety precautions have increased even more due to that (Hutchins' death).
"It was a conversation that came up when we were filming - how can we make everyone feel as safe as possible and also do the scenes well? A lot of safety regulations were put in place. I wouldn’t rehearse with a gun. As soon as they called ‘cut’ the handler would grab the gun again."
While the final outcome of the storyline is still a closely guarded secret, Paige has confirmed that she will be leaving Emmerdale as the storyline concludes.
Yet as Olivia Bromley reveals, not everything was plain sailing during the shoot, with a freak snowstorm and dwindling temperatures that dipped below zero causing all manner of difficulties for those on set.
But thanks to a helpful supply of hot water bottles, sleeping bag-style robe coats and hand/foot warmers dished out by Jay, 31, they got through the worst of it to deliver some stunning scenes.
"It was freezing and I shivered," says Olivia, who wore a wedding dress throughout filming.
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"You can't fit too many thermals under a wedding dress, but the costume department brought out hot water bottles and warm coats. Jay had a lot of hand/foot warmers."
Jay then quipped he could set up a market stall selling the hand/foot warmers, adding: "I had a thermal top on and long johns too. It was so cold, but it has been so much fun to film. Paige is so scary when she gets into Meena mode. She could be the next Freddie Kruger!"
Nobody thankfully suffered from vertigo during the high flying scenes, but Olivia also revealed an unlikely household product – fairy liquid – came to the rescue when she fell. "We were filming at a height but wedding dresses aren't very forgiving, so I had to wear a load of Spanx (a brand of tight fitting underclothing) over the harness," says Olivia.
"It was a good advert for Spanx because you can't see the harness, which is good! There is a lot of action involved and at one point Jay's character, Billy, is having to protect my character, Dawn, and he was so robust that I fell to the floor!”
"We were wearing our harnesses and we were so in the action that I managed to quickly stand back up again without him even noticing! Only there was this huge mud patch on my bum!
"The costume department had to quickly wash it off and they did an incredible job in an hour getting it back to white. Their secret? Fairy liquid and a lot of patience!"
All three actors involved in the shocking conclusion have said that they can't wait to see how millions of fans will react to this week's episodes – especially Paige who smiles as she reveals viewers have been reaching out to tell her how much they adore her psycho alter-ego.
"I don't look at social media too much," she adds. "But people have been sending me messages telling me they love Meena! I love that people love her because I do too! And when she left recently, they told me they were so sad she had gone.”
"There is no rehabilitation for her. She is always going to find it exciting to kill people. Meena is the most fun and challenging character I’ve ever played. She is so strange, so odd and it’s been a total delight."
Jay adds: "Meena can't get away with it anymore. It is 100% time for her comeuppance."
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