Emmerdale’s Tony Audenshaw ’emotional’ as co-star exits after 17 years in death tragedy

Everything has changed for Bob (Picture: ITV)

Bob Hope’s (Tony Audenshaw) world was torn apart in Monday’s (January 1) episode of Emmerdale as his son Heath (Sebastian Dowling) died after a car crash.

On New Year’s Eve, Heath, Cathy (Gabrielle Dowling) and Angelica (Rebecca Bakes) wanted to head into Hotten for a party, but couldn’t get a lift from any adults.

This prompted a drunk Cathy to steal the keys to Wendy’s (Susan Cookson) car and get behind the wheel herself, failing to consider the dangers of being too young to be driving, as well as under the influence.

The joyride into town was doomed for disaster and ended when Cathy crashed the car through a wall.

When Wendy and Bob caught up with the trio, they found a bloodied Angelica and Cathy outside, but Heath was still in the car.

The adults got Heath out and Wendy attempted CPR, but nothing could be done – the teen was dead.

At the hospital, a police officer arrived and explained to Bob, Wendy, Jimmy (Nick Miles), Nicola (Nicola Wheeler), Eric (Chris Chittell) and Brenda (Lesley Dunlop) that Cathy and Angelica needed to be kept apart while the investigation is going on, to prevent their stories from getting muddled.

Life won’t be the same for Bob (Picture: ITV)

Wendy then told Bob to go and support Cathy, but the traumatised character could barely look at his daughter, aware that if she never drove the car, things would be very different.

The departure of Heath has changed everything for the Hope family and for Tony Audenshaw, who plays Bob, he certainly found it difficult to say goodbye to Sebastian Dowling, who has played Heath for 17 years.

‘He’s always been here. There were great stretches of time when they weren’t used at all and they’d be in like twice a year. It’s always difficult for young actors – any actors – when you have a few months off you always come back rusty and you think, “Can I still do it?” You always feel a bit awkward.

Cathy has lost her twin brother (Picture: ITV)

‘I think it’s probably more difficult for kids coming back in when they’re not used much. But it is. We all get on dead well and it’s going to be quite an emotional time over the next couple of weeks.’

‘It was quite a shock that that’s what they were doing’, Tony said, revealing his reaction to this huge twist.

‘But obviously it’s a really important storyline and I hope it’s one that they do justice to.

‘It’s quite extraordinary that they’re brother and sister. It does often happen with young people that it’s their mates or girlfriend or boyfriend, it’s somebody they know. Not only are they dealing with the fact that they’ve killed somebody, or somebody’s died in an accident, but it’s somebody that they actually love.

‘Then the whole network of friends and family around are angry and they’re grieving and I’m sure that’s what’s going to unfold.’

Cathy crashed the car into a wall (Picture: ITV)

Continuing the chat, Tony made clear that the next few weeks were incredibly difficult to film.

‘When you’re doing emotional stuff you can either go inside-out where you dredge up feelings that you’ve had yourself and amplify those’, he said.

‘Also you can go outside-in where you get upset, it affects your body and the way you feel, the back of your mouth, your eyes. What you can do is rub your eyes, hit your stomach, touch your palate and that sort of gets the emotion going and then you can use a combination of both of those things to build upset.

‘I love working. The process of learning comedy and doing comedy is not that different in that you’ve got all the learning and you’ve got the intensity of the day and the pressure of being on set. The difference when you do a story like this is that you’re miserable all day instead of having a laugh all day. The impact of that over a few weeks is more tiring, I think, for actors to do.’

Reflecting on Bob’s reaction to Cathy’s involvement in the crash, Tony explained:

‘She’s been driving the car and her brother’s dead. The relationship that they’ve had, he’s tried to understand, but when you’re grieving you’re angry. Certainly it’s going to really, really test an already fractured relationship.

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He added: ‘I think he’s certainly going to blame himself. With regard to the lift, there’s actually nothing I’ve seen so far about that, but certainly in the way he’s parented he’s going to question his relationship with his children. Has he got on better with Heath than he has with Cathy over the last few years? Is it payback time now for that?

‘Because Heath, because he hasn’t got PMDD I suppose, for one, has been an easier ride as a parent, because he’s had less trouble. He’s just been a bit of a dream, really, just got on with things.

‘His eyes have been towards Cathy a lot because of the trouble she’s had because of her condition.’

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Bob’s world has changed forever.