Emmerdale viewers were left stunned after long-time character Jimmy King was killed off after 22 years on the ITV series.
Unsuspecting fans tuning in to Thursday night’s episode (27 August) watched on as the character found himself at the centre of a fatal crash, bringing actor Nick Miles’ lengthy stint on the soap to an end.
Jimmy’s final scene was, fittingly, alongside his wife Nicola, played by Nicola Wheeler, with whom he was set to renew his wedding vows.
Fans who had no idea Miles was leaving the soap expressed their dissatisfaction with the revelation on X/Twitter, with one declaring “he deserved better” and another stating they were “fuming” as he had been such an intrinsic part of the series for so long.
Others said that the character “deserved something more epic”, claiming producers had “done him dirty”.
Reflecting on his departure from the soap, Miles claimed, during a behind-the-scenes video with Wheeler, that everyone who had read the script was left in tears.
Before he joined Emmerdale in 2004, Miles appeared in Casualty and The Bill and had small roles in Ken Loach film Ladybird Ladbird (1994) and Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002).
The character of Jimmy appeared in more than 1,800 episodes of the soap, which started in 1972, and was introduced with brothers Matthew (Matt Healy), Max (Charlie Kemp) and Carl (Tom Lister), as well as his father Tom (Ken Farrington).
He started as a callous businessman, but evolved into one of the show’s more dependable comedic characters. Among his biggest storylines were an amnesia storyline in 2011, which followed a blow to the head by Kelly Windsor (Adele Silva), and a failed marriage to Patsy Kensit's Sadie King.
Sadie was introduced to the soap the same year as Jimmy, and left two years later following affairs with Cain Dingle, Robert Sugden, and her brother-in-law Matthew.
Kensit is set to reprise her role as the scheming villain, but those hoping for a reunion with Jimmy have been left disappointed.
While little is known about what brings Sadie back to the village, it has been revealed she will have a run-in with Kim Tate, played by Claire King.
Kensit said of her return: “She’s always been one of the favourite roles I’ve ever had because I’m pathologically polite as a person and she just… isn’t. And so, some of the things I get to say and the putdowns and everything. I used to live vicariously through her because I would never, ever talk to anybody like that.
“So, I had just so much fun and when I got the call (to come back) it was just a hard yes for me.”
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