'Emmerdale' horror stampede scenes leave viewers in stitches

Emmerdale has been celebrating its 50th anniversary in true soap fashion - with a natural disaster - but unfortunately, the "horror" scenes have not had the desired effect on viewers.

To mark the ITV soap's milestone birthday, it opted for its traditional autumn tragedy plot, this time featuring a wild storm that wreaked havoc following Kim Tate and Will Taylor's wedding.

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On Monday, Harriet Finch was killed after being flattened by a quad bike, Kim was knocked out trying to save her rival, and Sam Dingle was impaled on a tractor fork after leaping from some hay bales in an attempt to escape a cow stampede.

But as Sam's (James Hooton) life hangs in the balance, the domino effect of disasters proved a little too much to take seriously for some viewers.

One person tweeted: "I don’t normally watch emmerdale but I’ve just seen someone be impaled on a tractor and someone else get run over by some cows… mental scenes for a Monday night."

Another viewer joked: "No helpline for people worried about storms, wind, cows, tractors, picnic tables, Wheely bins?"

Someone else wrote: "I love #Emmerdale but this is so bad, it might have worked in theory, but on screen it just looks ridiculous, it's more "carry on" comedy than edge of your seat drama. At this point we're just laughing at the daft sets and wind machine, and not caring who lives or dies. #EpicFail"

Another viewer agreed: "Literally no one is taking this programme seriously, its so funny #emmerdale"

One more viewer tweeted: "After that episode of Emmerdale, I really wish Harry Hill was doing his TV burp."

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In other scenes, Amelia Spencer went into labour alone in a barn - but a viewer mocked that, too, writing: "Lydia needs to tell her she needs her jeans off to deliver a baby."

Fans of the show were not prepared to wave goodbye to Sam after 27 years in the soap and are hoping he will pull through from his impaling.

One person tweeted: "Sam dingle better be ok @emmerdale for god sake I didn’t expect that.. what you’ve put him through over the years with his wife dying of cancer and killing him like this pray for Sam."

Someone else wrote: "Sam on emmerdale being impaled by a tractor at 7:55 on a Monday night was not on my bingo card."

Actor James Hooton, who plays Sam, took it in good humour, tweeting: "Did anything happen in @emmerdale tonight?"

However, one cynical viewer did not expect the effects of the storm to be too long-lasting, tweeting: "They always say “lives will never be the same again” after a massive stunt but literally the next week everyone is in the pub back to normal."

Emmerdale continues tonight at 7.30pm on ITV.

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