Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick) faced the ultimate heartbreak in Emmerdale this week when girlfriend Suzy Merton (Martelle Edinborough) was killed in the limo crash.

Driver Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) swerved off the road to avoid hitting son Noah (Jack Downham), but ended up in an even deadlier situation when the limo settled on top of a frozen lake.

‘Suzy died instantly from the impact of the crash, from a head injury,’ actress Michelle Hardwick explained.

‘Just putting yourself in that situation, and everyone’s all over everybody, it’s just sheer panic, and then you find out you’re in the middle of a lake on the ice and any of you could go down at any minute.

‘Then you’ve got Dr Cavanagh saying she’s passed, and you’re in this confined space.’

One by one, the car’s occupants had no choice but to try and make their way across the ice to safety, but Vanessa was reluctant to leave Suzy behind.

‘The point where Vanessa has to leave the limo, and leave her in there, it was so heartbreaking,’ Michelle recalled. ‘It was horrific. It was so upsetting to do.

‘Obviously it was Martelle’s last few days filming as well. It was really hard, really upsetting.

‘When Leyla said “Think of Johnny,” that was the only thing that was going to get her to leave the limo. When they said “Johnny” it brought her back to reality and the bigger picture.’

Unfortunately, there may be more heartbreak ahead for grieving Vanessa, as Michelle teased.

‘On the Valentine’s night with the limo, she said to Suzy, “Victoria’s looking after Johnny, we’ve got a free house. Let’s go back.” And the reaction from Suzy probably wasn’t what Vanessa would want or expect. But Vanessa didn’t read too much into it.

‘In the limousine she told her how much she loved her and she didn’t really get anything back from Suzy.

‘Vanessa’s just putting it down to Suzy being stressed with life and her job and I don’t think she’s reading anything it. Maybe she should have, but it’s a little bit too late now, unfortunately.’

This has led fans to wonder if perhaps Suzy wasn’t being entirely faithful to Vanessa…

‘I think she would be absolutely heartbroken [if Suzy hadn’t been faithful] but she probably wouldn’t believe it. She’d be so heartbroken if she found that out, because Vanessa always puts 100% into everything she does. It would break her heart.’

Fortunately, Vanessa is set to have a strong support system as she deals with her grief, as Michelle revealed.

‘The whole village is going to be grieving because everyone who’s died, there’s pockets everywhere across the village.

‘The main support for Vanessa is going to be her sister Tracy, her best friend Rhona, and Mary. Mary and Suzy had a very tight friendship that Vanessa was very aware of and she says frequently to Mary, “You meant the world to Suzy, I get that you’re hurting as well.”

‘Mary’s going to be probably the biggest support to Vanessa going forward through these next couple of weeks.’