Emmerdale star hits out at soap bosses after her character’s ‘awkward’ storyline before shock exit

An ex-Emmerdale actress has hit out at bosses over how her character’s departure from the show was handled.

Katherine Dow Blyton, who played Harriet Finch in the long-running soap opera for almost a decade, said she was stunned to discover bosses had given her character the boot.

Harriet, who appeared on the show from 2013 to 2022, first set foot in the village as a friendly vicar but was later converted into a crime-fighting cop.

The character saw her death during the soap opera’s 50th anniversary in October 2022.

During a storm, the pastor-turned-policewoman fell from her ATV and was crushed after an explosion.

After her shock departure, Harriet, who had been a character on the show for nine years, was not even given a service at the village church she served.

Actress Katherine, 59, has since expressed her dismay at the way her character’s death was charted.

Speaking to the Soap from the box podcast, she said: “I received so many lovely messages after Harriet died.

“People going, she didn’t even have a funeral, where is her body? I just felt a little sorry for Harriet, it is what it is.

‘You have to suck it up and go, that’s showbiz! The irony is that this was the first super soap week I was involved in!’

She continued: “I think the problem is that everything seems very sensational now, if you watch the old episodes it was very character-based.

“You just think, why does everything have to be conflict, murder, business? You can have a character who is single or a happily married couple.

“I don’t know if soaps fall prey to their own success, because there is a limit: if you make six episodes a week, what do you do to keep people interested?”

Reverend turned policewoman Harriet was shockingly killed on the show after being crushed by a quad bike during a storm

“It’s more like a competition between soaps to do the best stunts and the best traumas and tragedies than it is about characters.”

Katherine also revealed that she was unhappy with Harriet’s character development on the soap opera.

During her time on the show, the reverend had become complicit in the murder of her ex-flame, even going so far as to exhume his corpse.

After a breakdown, Harriet threw off her clerical collar and took on the role of constable again.

“I think becoming a police officer again at my age was a bit left-wing,” she said.

“For the first time in my almost ten years, I felt uncomfortable in my own skin because it just felt wrong to me.

‘When Harriet came in she was such a fantastic character, she was a bit mischievous, a bit off, she had a sense of humour. When have you laughed and seen Harriet laugh?’

Despite feeling uneasy about her character’s progress, the actress said she “burst into tears” when show bosses revealed her time on the show had come to an end after almost a decade.

Despite the character being on the show for almost a decade, Harriet wasn’t even given a funeral service. Actress Katherine has now stated that she felt ‘uneasy’ about her character’s development on the show

“I went up and they basically said, ‘We love Harriet and we’re going to give her a good death,’” she said.

‘I sat there for ten seconds thinking: did I do something wrong? They say not to take it personally, but it’s impossible not to.

‘I was suprised. I said, “Well, you don’t know what to do with me, do you?”

“I tried to get out of the building, sat in my car and burst into tears because it was a shock.

‘To be honest I was ready to go for a while but making the decision to leave a good job is a big decision and I’m glad they made it because I might not be brave have been enough.’