Emmerdale favourite Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) will consider taking his own life in a tragic new storyline, it has been revealed.
Viewers have seen Paddy struggling with depression over the last few months after discovering that his wife Chas (Lucy Pargeter) had been having an affair with Al Chapman (Michael Wildman).
Since then he has been unhappily cohabiting with Chas and gradually becoming more withdrawn from his erstwhile Dingle family.
In tonight's episode, Paddy will be seen abruptly leaving the village and moving to a local guest house - then, in scenes to be broadcast next month, he will return to the village in order to say veiled goodbyes before leaving again with the intention of taking his own life.
The storyline has been developed in close conjunction with the Samaritans and Andy's Man Club in order to portray the issues surrounding male mental health as accurately as possible.
"It is a huge honour and a great responsibility to be portraying this storyline," said Brunt, who has played Paddy since 1997.
"It's an inherent problem in today's society that most men don't talk enough about their problems. We bottle them up, we don't want to bother anyone, we become embarrassed, we feel we should be strong and not show weakness.
"If this story can shine a light on the issue or make even a small change to someone's outlook or viewpoint, then it will have been worth it."
Producer Laura Shaw added: "As soon as we started discussing this story we knew that it was vital for us to get it right and that we needed to open up the conversation about male depression and suicide.
"Paddy is usually very happy-go-lucky in life, always joking and having a laugh, but what we see is that recent events have really taken their toll. Despite him being popular and having lots of friends and family around him, Paddy starts to feel increasingly lonely, isolated and overwhelmed by his feelings and this leads to him having some very dark thoughts.
"We've worked really closely with Samaritans and Andy's Man Club every step of the way through this story and their incredible support and insight has helped us to shape Paddy's journey into a true reflection of what thousands of men sadly go through every year."
Emmerdale continues weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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