Emmerdale's Sophie Powles knew her character was going to be killed off when she agreed to return earlier this year.
Sophie Powles as Holly Barton
The 28-year-old actress was persuaded to reprise her role as troubled Holly Barton - who has battled with heroin addiction on and off - in March this year after she quit the soap four years earlier, but she has admitted she always knew her alter ego was only going to stick around for six months before she'd pass away from a drugs overdose.
Speaking to the Radio Times Online, she said: "I always knew I was only coming back for a six-month storyline and I knew it was going to be drug-related and heartbreaking. I was prepared for this and I knew what I was signing up for when I spoke to the producer about returning.
"The 'Emmerdale' script and story team had already planned Holly's return and what would happen to her and they really wanted me on board to help tell this story.
"We wanted to highlight how hard and destructive drug addiction can be. Of course, there are many positive stories out there where people are doing really well and have recovered from drug addiction and therefore this 'Emmerdale' storyline of course doesn't represent everyone.
"This is Holly's personal story. Drug addiction is shocking sometimes and you can look at someone like Holly and think she has everything sorted in life, but out of nowhere everything can spiral out of control."
Viewers were left in tears at the end of Thursday (29.09.16) night's shock episode when Holly's heartbroken mother Moira Barton (Natalie J. Robb) found her lifeless body.
Sophie said: "Holly and Moira have an incredible relationship and have really bonded recently and I'm proud of the relationship we've created. Holly's appeared to be happy and healthy and Moira's finally been feeling that her daughter's doing well ... I think it's always been in the back of Moira's mind that she could lose Holly because she almost has three times. Moira's going to be absolutely heartbroken, but she's a lionhearted woman and she's strong and I really hope she can come back from this."
And, although she knew she was leaving, Sophie couldn't help but shed a tear when she shot her exit scenes.
She explained: "I've had the best six months and I couldn't ask for a nicer bunch of people to work with. I've been so supported. I was fine until the last day and then suddenly it all felt so real. I managed to keep it together until the very last scene and then suddenly I was an emotional wreck."
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