Emmerdale's Meena star reveals strict soap rules to avoid gun tragedy on set

dailystar.co.uk:

Emmerdale bosses were taking no chances filming Paige Sandhu’s gun-toting hostage scenes in a bid to avoid an Alec Baldwin-style tragedy.Last night viewers saw Paige’s serial killer character Meena Jutla kidnap newlyweds Dawn Taylor and Billy Fletcher, hold them at gunpoint and order them to choose who will live.And in the wake of the death of Halyna Hutchins – who was killed when Baldwin’s prop revolver discharged on the set of the film Rust – soap chiefs overhauled safety procedures.Paige says: “From speaking to the gun handler people, their safety precautions have increased even more from what they were before due to that.“I wouldn’t rehearse with a gun.“As soon as they called ‘cut’ the handler would grab the gun again.“He would show us there were no bullets in there, or if there were, that they were empty, so you couldn’t possibly hurt anyone.” While she’s already bumped off three of the villagers, this is the first time Meena has been armed.

Paige continues: “It’s a step-up. We’ve never seen Meena with a weapon like this.“If she has had a weapon it’s been something that’s been close by, like the signpost that she picks up to hurt Andrea in the maze. “This brought more intensity and excitement and gravity to the scenes.” When she joined the cast in September 2020 Paige – voted Best Villain at last year’s Inside Soap Awards – was fully aware of what murderous deeds the part would involve. “It’s been the dream role,” she says. “I don’t think I look particularly evil.“To have a young girl who looks like they wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly go off and do these crazy things – and enjoy it – it’s interesting.