Emmerdale fans were left with clenched jaws and racing hears after the explosive 50 th anniversary episode on Sunday left them fearing for the lives of Harriet Finch and Kim Tate.
Fans were open-mouthed as storm scenes unfolded before them and a quad bike explosion left the two characters severely injured.
Viewers waited with bated breath, only to watch vicar turned police officer Harriet's final scenes as they aired yesterday when Harriet succumbed to her injuries following the quad bike crash in the storm and the character met her demise.
Following the death of the beloved Harriet, we take a look at the real life of Harriet actress Katherine Dow Blyton’s life off screen after 10 years in Emmerdale.
The 57-year-old has become a favourite among ITV soap viewers, which is perhaps unsurprising as she was performing before she’d even left the womb.
Her mum starred in a Shakespeare play while pregnant with Katherine, which she joked was when the “grease paint soaked through” and her acting career began.
Katherine bagged her very first role on screen in gritty crime series Cracker, where she played a doctor.
And in 1996, she hit the big time and was cast in her first film role in Brassed Off, alongside Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald.
Following her big screen role, Katherine went on to appear in Casualty, At Home with the Braithwaites, Where The Heart Is, The Syndicate and The Royal.
Telly fans may also recognise her from playing Chrissie in four episodes of Channel 4's This is England '86.
Before moving to her role as Harriet in Emmerdale, Katherine dabbled in the soap world and appeared in Coronation Street four times over 11 years.
She enjoyed a brief stint as the ex of Terry Duckworth, Nicola Owens, in July 1996, before returning to the Cobbles two years later as Dr Groves for a short time.
In 1999, she was cast in another medic role and in 2001 she appeared as Liz Morrisey, buildings manager for the Rosamund Street Medical Centre, for one episode.
Her final Weatherfield appearance came in 2007 as Niamh McQuillan.
Between her Coronation Street cameos, Katherine spent four years in the Hollyoaks cast, playing secondary school science teacher, Sally Hunter.
Between 2001 and 2005, she played mum to Lisa Hunter – a role held by the now Strictly-famous Gemma Atkinson – and Lee Hunter, played by Alex Carter.
Off screen, Katherine is very private about her personal life but is a very proud dog mum. She’s also confirmed she has a boyfriend although his identity remains a mystery.
Katherine’s creative prowess appears to come not only from her mum’s dabbles in the arts, but also from legendary children's author Enid Blyton.
Katherine is distantly related to the literary heroine who created The Famous Five, The Secret Seven and Noddy.
Back in May 2020, Katherine revealed the unlikely familial connection in an interview on ITV’s This Morning.
She told Eammon Holmes and Ruth Langsford of her acclaimed ancestor, revealing: “Enid Blyton was a cousin of my grandpa’s.
Following her character Harriet’s death, Katherine has admitted that she will miss playing her “very much”, but wont miss wearing her police uniform.
Katherine described her final scenes as very "emotional" and she is still processing her exit from the ITV soap. The technicalities of her exit scene meant she didn't have time to sob, but she opened up about the sweet gift given to her by her colleagues.
She said: “What I loved about coming into Emmerdale and what really made me want to play Harriet was because she was coming in as the vicar.
“I loved playing the vicar and the fact that she was flawed, and she was a bit off the wall. She had a sense of humour and I loved the character.
“I’ll very much miss her but she’s with me obviously. We’re not too dissimilar.”
Asked what it was like filming her death scenes, she said: "I got very emotional reading it. On the actual day I was covered in blood and I had various bits of woodland hanging out of my hair. We had these industrial wind machines which were literally blowing sand and debris into your eyes. So when it came to it, it wasn’t as emotional because the technicality of what you have to do takes away from the emotion so I managed to get through the day without sobbing.
"The death wasn’t my last scene though but on my last day I received flowers and lovely gifts and messages. I don’t think it will hit me that I’m not going back for a couple of weeks because it feels like I’m on a break but it will slowly hit me."
