Nick Miles thought he was getting sacked when an ‘Emmerdale’ producer called about the lockdown episodes.
The 57-year-old actor – who play Jimmy King on the ITV show – admitted he always fears the worst when he gets a call from one of the soap bosses, but he was "thrilled" to be part of the special episodes set during the current coronavirus pandemic.
He said: "It was a bit of a shock. I got a call from one of our producers, but I always panic when I get a call from a producer.
"I thought it might have been a phone call to fire me, but it was actually about the lockdown episode!
"I was absolutely thrilled to be asked as there are only six episodes and Chris Gill has written a terrific script."
Nick – who first joined the cast back in 2004 – is certain viewers will "remember" the upcoming specials.
He added: "I think it’s ‘Emmerdale’ gold, it’s the kind of thing people will remember, the lockdown episodes will be speaking directly to people about what they have just experienced."
The biggest challenge for Nick and his co-star Nicola Wheeler (Nicola King) has seen them having to observe social distancing while their characters wouldn’t have to.
He explained: "The problem for us with this episode is that although Jimmy and Nicola are locked down together, they wouldn’t be social distancing by themselves, but Nicola Wheeler and I obviously aren’t locked down so we have to obey social distancing when we shoot it.
"I think the hardest thing for us will be to make the blocking natural, in an unnatural situation.
"It’s very technical, so that 90 minutes we had [to rehearse] were spent on working out where we were going to be on the set during each part of the play."