Emmerdale‘s Marlon and Paddy Dingle find an unusual way to let off some steam next week, as they grapple with their mounting stress. Though the pair are both pretty mild-mannered, they vent their frustrations by smashing up Celia Daniels’ old farm.

In the special two-hander episode, Paddy panics about his future after admitting to his part in Ray Walters’ death. When he receives a letter confirming his and Dylan Penders’ upcoming court date, the vet begins to spiral and seeks reassurance from his best friend.

“Well, the first port of call is, Oh My God They’re Zombies, the video game, which, whilst Marlon really enjoys, it doesn’t really work for Paddy,” said Mark Charnock, who plays Marlon.

“So Marlon has this idea to sort of make that real! He says, let’s go and smash things up at Ray and Celia’s. So they take a pair of sledgehammers, and they go there and vent their rage.”

The star explained that the police had left the house in “turmoil” while collecting evidence for their investigations. He added: “So what’s left is junk. It’s just piles and piles of furniture and a locked house. So they’re frustrated first that they can’t get in the house, but then they turn and we go, but wait a minute, what about this?”

While filming the scenes, the duo were given real sledgehammers which they had to carefully wield to avoid any injuries.

“We braced ourselves. We did a couple of rehearsals, left enough space, plotted which pieces of furniture breaking, which piece would make us look the strongest, and went for it,” said Charnock.

Destroying Ray and Celia’s belongings provides Paddy with an outlet for his anger and tension, but he’s not the only one who benefits from the activity. With his family having been put through hell by the villains, Marlon also finds the experience cathartic.

“There’s a moment in it when Marlon goes to another place, and everything that he’s been through with April, all the trauma, everything that he felt unable to do during April’s suffering and his family’s suffering, everything that he felt like, that he that he should have done at the time and didn’t, that all comes out.”

Marlon begins smashing the kitchen table which “he sees as the sort of hub of Ray and Celia’s lives, where they would have had conversations about whose lives they were going to ruin next”.

Charnock shared that his character “just loses control completely, and Paddy really has to sort of talk him down”. Will there be consequences for their rampage?