Emmerdale fans were horrified on Monday evening as Marlon Dingle faced terror on the soap when he suffered a stroke and was rushed to hospital.
The frightening health battle began when Marlon was found collapsed by his young daughter April, before he was raced in for emergency surgery.
In the frightening moment Marlon realised something was wrong, his vision became blurred, before he looked in the mirror and fearfully realised his face had drooped on one side.
Viewers saw young April tearfully begging dad Marlon: “Dad, just speak to me please,” before he was rushed to hospital.
As his loved ones reacted to the shocking health scare, his partner Rhona fought back tears as the enormity of their situation hit her, while his best friend Paddy Kirk was seen at Marlon’s hospital bedside, urging him: “Will you just come back to me, please. I can't cope.”
Emmerdale fans on Twitter were left describing the episode of the soap as a "horror film" after the scene.
One wrote: "Wow Marlon's stroke scene gave me goosebumps" as another asked: "Why was that genuinely terrifying."
A third wrote: "Had to turn off Emmerdale. So hard to watch because it brings back bad memories of when I saw my mam had a stroke."
"I wasn’t prepared for that, I can’t watch. Why can’t they just let Marlon be happy for once," another tweeted. "My heart goes out to anyone who’s either experienced a stroke or been affected by it. Outstanding acting."
A fellow social media user wrote: "That was a hard watch. Poor Marlon," and another posted: "Bloody hell. That was harrowing scenes."
Several fans praised the realism of the scenes, writing: "Oh God, this is incredibly scary - I've been there."
Another posted: "Emmerdale having witnessed a relative have a stroke that was pretty bloody spot on from Mark Charnock."
A fellow Emmerdale fan wrote: "Omg !!! That is amazing! Very well acting and felt extremely real ! Poor Marlon."
Another wrote: "Bringing back horrible memories of when my Nan had a stroke, sadly she passed away 3 months later. Feeling very emotional watching this."
Actor Mark Charnock recently opened up about the storyline, and told of Marlon's “long journey” ahead for his recovery.
Speaking to The Mirror and other press, Mark confessed that while he wasn't “worried” about the change to his character long-term, he did feel the pressure to do the plot as accurately as possible.
He said: “He has a thrombectomy and they drag the clot out and it's only the beginning of the story really. It helps with his facial drooping in the first instance, but he's still got a very long journey about learning how to speak and all that stuff again.
“It's all down his right side and so his arm, his leg and his mouth are all quite badly affected, so he has trouble. He goes through phases.
“He's got a phase where it affects his speech and being able to express himself properly.”
Mark added: “I don't think he’s going to get to where he wants to be for a long time, and we're just at the beginning of his journey.
“He can't work anymore, and he feels, wrongly, that he can't be the dad he wants to be anymore, which is everything to him, because of his incapacitation.
“But because of Rhona and Paddy and other characters who come into this story who are a big support, there's some comedy in it too, there's some fun to be had in it and some lovely scenes with Paddy, really funny and well written in the hospital quite early on.
“There’s a great deal of hope that things can only get better from where they are, there’s positivity to be had from it too so hopefully apart from it being distressing, traumatic for the characters, also it will inspire them to get their lives back.
“And hopefully it will inspire the people watching to maybe change their lifestyles a little bit in order to head this off before it happens to them – because it happens to so many people.”
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.
