Emmerdale star Sammy Winward has revealed that she is thrilled to be back at the forefront of the show.
The actress's character Katie Sugden is about to begin a new romance with village newcomer Ryan Lamb, played by former Hollyoaks cast member James Sutton.
Speaking of the plot in an interview with Hot TV magazine, Winward commented: "It's just nice to have a great storyline to work on. Katie hasn't really been up to much since she acted as a surrogate for the Sinclairs, but that's all about to change."
The 23-year-old added that she is excited to be working closely with Sutton, who signed up for the ITV1 soap in March.
"He's an amazing actor. I was really pleased when they said Ryan would be Katie's new love interest," she explained. "They make a really good couple and I'm very excited about what's coming up for them both.
"Because Ryan's new to the village there's a lot to explore with his character which means the possibilities for him and Katie are endless."
Winward recently confirmed that Katie's new romance will eventually "blow up in her face".
Credit: Digital Spy
Emmerdale's Katie Sugden - played by 22-year-old Sammy Winward - finds herself staring down the barrel of a 12-bore shotgun next week, when she becomes embroiled in a hostage situation at Home Farm alongside King brothers Jimmy (Nick Miles), Matt (Matt Healy) and Carl (Tom Lister). After returning from the village fayre, Katie walks in on Matt being held at gun point by a madman out for revenge. Here, Sammy Winward chats to us about the hostage plot and her temptation to go for shooting lessons.
Katie returned to the village last week. Where had she been?
"She's been with her mum in Greece for two weeks apparently. There's not actually been much mention of it, but that's where she's been."
When she returned, she had to deal with the aftermath of Grayson Sinclair, didn't she?
"Yeah. He'd phoned around all the people who had their horses stabled with Katie to sabotage her business and ruin her reputation. She came back and all the horses had disappeared."
And this week, Katie walks into a hostage situation – how does it come about?
"Katie's at the village fayre giving horse rides to the kids, but Chas says to her something like 'none of the kids want to ride on the horses, they just want to go on the donkeys, so you may as well go back and get changed'. So Katie goes back to Home Farm to stable the horses and get changed. When I walk in, I find Matthew being held hostage by a madman with a gun, which was the last thing she was expecting."
What does the madman want?
"Without giving too much away, he wants to know where someone precious to him is - and he wants to know, whether it means harming Katie or Matthew in the process."
Does the gun go off?
"Yeah. It goes off after Carl and Jimmy arrive because they become embroiled in it all, too. Carl confronts the madman and then the gun goes off after a bit of a struggle."
What was it like having the barrel of a gun pointed at you?
"It was actually a real gun but it didn't have any ammunition in it. It's a horrible feeling having it pointed at your head. It's quite bad holding it, too. I had to hold it at one point because there's a struggle in one scene and the gun's dropped and Katie gets it, which is ridiculous really because the gun's twice the size of me! It's strange holding it, but it gave me the taste for it. I really wanted to go for shooting lessons afterwards. I haven't done yet, but want to."
Did you have any lessons on how to hold the gun or anything?
"Yeah. There was an expert there who owned the gun. I didn't realise that there are two triggers on the gun because there are two barrels – you use the first trigger for the first shot and the second trigger, which is further back, for the second shot. The guy was saying 'Sammy, the first shot's already gone off, you've got to hold the second trigger otherwise you'll look stupid' and I said 'alright, calm down – I've not actually done this before!' He understood, but just wanted to get it right. He said 'Katie's meant to be a farmer girl and you should have done it before!'
Do you think Katie does or will regret giving up her baby to Perdy Hyde-Sinclair?
"I think she'll always have a bit of regret. However, she knows that that baby's with the best possible person. I think that's what keeps her going, really."
Credit: Digital Spy and mikee1654
