Olivia Bromley admitted ‘Emmerdale’ had a "big, physical" Dawn Taylor/ DI Malone "showdown" planned between before lockdown, but had to use more "psychological elements" on the plot.
The Dales star’s character Dawn bumped off the policeman in self-defence earlier this week in the soap’s first socially-distanced murder, and Olivia admitted the show’s bosses had a "really exciting" finale planned for the character until social distancing guidelines came into play.
She said: "It wasn’t cold-blooded murder, it was self-defence, so I’m hoping the audience and the soap gods are with her.
"We had to re-jig a lot of it, because social distancing meant we couldn’t do the physical aspect of the storyline.
"It was going to be a big showdown between Dawn and Malone – a lot of physical fighting, which would’ve been really exciting.
"But we ended up having to re-jig it by using the psychological elements of it, so we used the heroin, which was a big part of her life.
"So he had a hold on her in that way.
"The writers had to be so clever in order to keep the tension with social distancing."
Olivia also admitted Emmerdale’s recent BAFTA Soap and Continuing Drama win has been a "really good morale boost" for the cast and crew during the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking on ‘Lorraine’, she added: "I think the BAFTA has come at such a wonderful time.
"At this particular moment with Covid and the restrictions, everybody has had to really change their way of working so it’s a really good morale boost, and it’s just fantastic to have won.
"Just to be back filming again in this climate, we’re really lucky."