Emmerdale fans in shock at Rishi's unexpected death

Emmerdale managed to pull off one of the toughest soap feats on Thursday - a completely unexpected death, as Rishi Sharma was killed off to the shock of fans.

Viewers were devastated to see the long-running character played by Bhasker Patel since 2011 axed from the village on the day of son Jai's (Chris Bisson) wedding.

The pair had fallen out in recent weeks after Jai made the shock discovery that Rishi was not in fact his real father, but was covering up for his younger brother who had got Jai's mum Georgia pregnant.

In a bitter row before Jai's wedding to Laurel (Charlotte Bellamy), Jai told Rishi: "If you want to come into that church and pretend to be my dad, then you need to act like one. You don't get to guilt trip me, not today.

"You'll be welcome at the wedding, but only if you could do it with good grace and drop the stink of burning martyr."

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Rishi replied: "I hope you both have a wonderful day and maybe one day you can show me the videos."

Heartbreakingly, Jai told him "you'll need to live a long time," but Rishi did not make it to the wedding where Jai made a speech offering to build bridges with him - and was later seen lying lifeless at the bottom of the stairs, dressed to go to the wedding.

Fans of the ITV soap were shocked by the death, as one person tweeted: "No way Rishi is dead??"

Someone else added: "WHAT THE ACTUAL F*** RISHI YOU REWIND YOURSELF UP THOSE STAIRS RIGHT NOW."

Another Rishi fan wrote: "I'm really going to miss Rishi. Can't we find a way to un-dead him? He was a great character."

One viewer commented on how rare it was for a soap death to be kept secret: "It’s incredible in this day & age with Social Media & the Press etc all doing Spoilers, that something like THAT can remain secret until the audience sees it on screen."

Fans shared their sadness as one tweeted: "OMG Rishi is dead My heart is broken. How did he die though? I reckon he had a heart attack and fell down the stairs."

Someone else added: "Such a huge loss to the show. @bhaskerpatel was very much the heart of #Emmerdale as #Rishi. He (Rishi) was that rare thing in soapland: a decent, loving, family-centered man who was a friend of everyone. A great pity to see both actor and character leave in this manner."

Another viewer wrote: "OH NO NO NO!! No more Rishi @bhaskerpatel I loved Rishi,His comedy and his love for Jai! @ChrisBisson I will really miss him! But credit to Chris and to Bhasker for a lovely and emotional episode!"

Someone else commented: "Actually in shock that Rishi is dead. Devastating end. What a phenomenal character he’s been @emmerdale not only have you done an incredible job at this storyline but also by developing Rishi’s character over the years. We have all grown to love him. Thank you."

Appearing on Lorraine on Friday to talk about his departure, Patel admitted the plot twist had been a huge surprise to him, too.

Looking tearful, he said: "When the producer rang me and said, 'I need to talk to you and we're killing you off because we want a big story and it's going to be a big surprise.' Because my 12 years at ITV, they let me do a lot of other work, so I felt a part of ITV, a part of Rishi, but at the same time I was working in London as well.

"So when the producer said 'we're going to kill you off', I was like, 'Okay, that part of my life with this guy is over and I'm going to move on.'"