Emmerdale legend, Lisa Riley, has revealed that the original plans for Paul Ashdale's exit were changed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The ITV villain was killed off earlier this week in a tragic explosion on the day he was due to marry Lisa's character, Mandy Dingle.
Paul, played by Reece Dinsdale, finally met his demise after a long-running emotional storyline, as he'd been abusing his son Vinny, played by actor, Bradley Johnson, in violent outbursts for several months.
Lisa told Digital Spy that the abuse story-line was originally planned at the start of 2020, before the country went into lockdown due to Covid-19.
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The soap later opted to change its original plan for Paul's comeuppance.
In the interview, Lisa said: "Reece always knew that Paul would die. He knew that they were going to play the story out and that Paul was going to become more and more evil.
"There was a different ending, which we're going to play with. I think they've made the right choice. This ending was absolutely the right way to do it.
"This story was happening before COVID, but we just had a different ending for Paul's death."
The actress spoke of what could have happened if her character would have learned the truth about her husband-to-be before the fatal crash.
She said: "If the accident hadn't have happened, I believe we were days away from Paul being murdered by Mandy. If Mandy had ever found out about the battery and the bullying, she would have killed him, no two ways about it."
In the coming weeks, viewers will see Mandy battle with her guilt as she deals with the aftermath of Paul's abuse and discovers more disturbing details of what her son had endured at the hands of his father.
Vinny struggles to come to terms with the events and is seen to be reluctant to accept what happened.
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7pm on ITV.
