Roxy Shahidi made an emotional exit from Emmerdale after 16 years on the soap when her character Leyla Harding tragically d!ed following a dramatic limo cr@sh into a lake

Emmerdale star Roxy Shahidi’s dramatic on-screen d3ath almost didn’t happen after she suffered a behind-the-scenes nightmare of her own.

The actress left soap fans devastated last night when her character Leyla Harding died following a horror limo cr@sh into a frozen lake. She became the second fatal exit in the Dales this week after her pal Suzy Merton also passed away. Charity Dingle, played by Emma Atkins, was behind the wheel of the limo when it cr@shed and plunged into an icy lake.

The dramatic scenes led to several villagers being hospitalised, with two confirmed fatalities and others still fighting for their lives. Roxy, who has played Leyla since 2008, admitted her exit came as a “shock” and couldn’t help but cry real tears while filming her character’s d3ath scene, despite needing to appear lifeless.

They had filmed the epic stunt week over a number of night shoots, however Roxy’s health nearly put the plan in jeopardy. She became ill during the shooting and was forced to miss filming. Roxy revealed: “We filmed the cr@sh at night and unfortunately I was ill for four days.”

Leyla’s d3ath played out in heartbreaking scenes ( 
Image:
ITV)

“I’d only ever had one day off in the 16 years I had been there, and I was worried this would cause a big issue. But our producer, Laura Shaw, was amazing,” she told The Sun. Roxy revealed she found out soap bosses plans for her character last summer and so had “a long time to process everything” despite the initial surprise. The actress plays Jacob Gallagher’s (Joe-Warren Plant) on-screen mum, which added even more emotion to her exit.

In scenes that tugged at the nation’s heartstrings on Wednesday night, Jacob was hit with the devastating news of his mother’s d3ath during his shift at the hospital. The distraught junior doctor begged his colleague to save his mum, but it was tragically too late. Overcome with grief, Jacob cried out: “She wouldn’t leave me. She wouldn’t leave her son.”

Leyla is one of the victims of the limo cr@sh ( 
Image:
ITV/EMMERDALE)

As he attempted to intervene, Jacob exclaimed: “Let me help her!” The doctor had to deliver the sombre news, saying: “Jacob, you need to stop, your mum passed away before she arrived at the hospital. She died from severe blood loss. I am sorry.” Jacob poured his heart out to his mum and said a tearful goodbye, soon joined by girlfriend Sarah Sugden.

Noah Dingle, Amy Wyatt and Liam Cavanagh were all brought into the hospital and remained in a bad way especially Amy, who suffered a seizure. There are fears she will be the next d3ath on the ITV soap, after she fell through the ice and became trapped in the freezing water. However, she’s yet to be able to reveal that while under the ice she saw a body.