Emmerdale teases dramatic cow stampede in 50th anniversary episodes

Emmerdale is set to get a dramatic stampede as part of its 50th anniversary episodes next week.

As a big storm rages in the village, Monday's (October 17) episode will see a barn at Moira's farm collapse, with panicked cows escaping and charging in a stampede. Could some of the residents get injured in the chaos?

Speaking about filming the tricky stunt, Emmerdale designer Duncan Howell explained it was "one of the big elements of the week", noting that "a cow stampede has not been done on a soap to this extent".

emmerdale village in the storm storyline

AMY BRAMMALL//ITV

"We began with conversations and lots of planning with the farmer," he revealed. "It was really important that this did not cause any harm or stress to these animals. The cattle we used all actually live on the farm.

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"For the filming element we created a new cattle pen near to a run which was a fence running down to one of their fields. So when they came out of the pen they gathered to go down the run to their field. They know they get fed both in the pen but also in the field.

"We did a rehearsal which was useful as it ensured the producers and everyone was happy with what we were doing and it was recorded to ensure there was no distress or any stress being caused to the animals."

moira dingle walks through farm in emmerdale

ITV

"We put their food on the back of a feed hopper and whizzed that down first so the cows had seen their food go. So when they came out of their pen they ran as a group to get to the food. It was successful."

He added that there was some trickery including the use of a "cow cam", elaborating: "An amazing company called Animated Extras from Shepperton Studios created a cow's head that could be puppeteered. This will enable the audience to see a cow's point of view.

"In the scene it will look as if the cows are running towards the Emmerdale characters as the cows stampede. It worked perfectly."

Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV, and streams on the ITV Hub.