Emmerdale fans were left stunned during tonight’s double episode by a shock death that came totally out of the blue.
Just weeks ago, the soap announced that actress Sophie Powles was leaving the show and there was speculation her character – a drug addict – would die from an overdose.
But as mum Moira found her young daughter’s lifeless body this evening, it was a huge shock to all. The show had managed to keep the story line under wraps.
Moira was seen in an obvious state of despair as she called for an ambulance and explained her daughter’s death: “It’s an overdose I think. There is no pulse. Her lips are blue. I know she is dead.”
Viewers were quick to take to Twitter to voice their dismay.
The Sun reported the actress’s departure earlier this month, with a source revealing: “Sophie has enjoyed returning as Holly but she never saw coming back as a full-time thing.
“So she’s back off into the real world again.
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“She’s already filmed her final scenes which are being kept under wraps.
“Her leaving the show is seen as one of the big story lines of the next few months.”
In recent months viewers have seen her troubled character become addicted to heroin once again.
Holly began taking taking drugs recreationally, but developed a life-threatening addiction as she ‘graduated’ from cocaine to heroin.
After getting clean with the help of her parents in a dramatic story line, she relapsed when her dad John died suddenly in a car crash and was rushed to hospital following an overdose.
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A fresh start as a trainee fashion designer in London beckoned, but she returned to the bosom of her family, where it dawned on mum Moira that the troubled lass’s issues were not behind her.
Over the past few episodes, viewers have watched struggling Holly grow ever closer to Jai, himself a recovering addict, and it appeared she was finally turning her life around.
This makes her sudden passing an even bigger shock.