Former Emmerdale star opens up on ‘groundbreaking’ week of episodes that ITV soap blew half of the year’s budget on

Bill also opened up about his secret side hustle that is worlds away from the Dales

FORMER Emmerdale star Bill Ward has lifted the lid on an epic week of episodes that cost the soap half of its yearly budget.

The actor, who played James Barton on the show, was at the centre of the episodes which aired back in 2016.

Termed the Hotten Bypass Crash, the award-winning storyline saw Bill’s character James plunge to his death after being pushed off a bridge by his scorned wife Emma causing a horror car pile-up with many of the Dales residents involved.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Bill has now admitted that ITV blew HALF of Emmerdale’s annual budget on the week of episodes to make them as “groundbreaking” as possible.

Bill said: “It was just magnificent and fun to do that. That was just brilliant.

“We were on a film, a proper film set down in Surrey for a week shooting that. And it was really, really exciting.

“They spent about half the budget for the entire show for the year in that week’s episodes and it was really groundbreaking.

“They were shooting on film cameras and doing one and two takes of things.

“It was a really, really brave piece of television making, brave piece of filming making.”

As a result of his character’s death in the stunt, it forced Bill to leave the hit show but he has since taken on a flurry of other projects including a role in The Full Monty stage show as well as an upcoming play in Newcastle titled Gerry & Sewell.

Speaking about balancing out his TV and theatre work, Bill said: “I’m just very happy working as an actor. And I what I generally do is, I see what comes up.

“My general thing is to stay as open as possible.

“I’m about 50% theatre, about 50% television, occasionally the odd film. And what I try and do is stay as open as I can do as much theatre as many musicals and as much television as I can.

“The more of those things you do, the longer you do them, the more you keep those opportunities open as you move through your career.

“So I just try and stay abreast of as much as I possibly can, just to keep as many options open as I can sort of as I move through my career.”

Bill was speaking to The Sun ahead of a project worlds away from the acting world.

As well as continuing to act, Bill has seen a career shift into the creative art space after following his passion as a photographer.

The star will soon be displaying his work at the Light & Land exhibition in London where his side hustle specialising in “intentional camera movement” will be put on full display.

Speaking about the project, Bill told The Sun: “The project that I’m showing at the exhibition at the Mall Galleries in September, is called Immersive, and it’s about photographing the sea from inside the sea, wearing a wetsuit and getting underneath the waves.

“It is a piece of work I’ve been working on for the last two years.

“I run them side by side, the acting and the photography, and I’m equally passionate about both.”

Despite finding joy and success in both fields, Bill admitted that he was still able to feel fulfilled in different ways from both his acting work and his photography passion.

The star said: “It’s two sides of the same coin for me. It’s a yin-yang thing for me.

“I love the energy of a rehearsal room. I love the energy of a television set, or a film set. I love it.

“But there’s another part of me which is quite reflective, and quite quiet, and I quite like peace, quiet, and solitude.

Bill also opened up about his secret side hustle that is worlds away from the Dales FORMER Emmerdale star Bill Ward has lifted the lid on an epic week of episodes that cost the soap half of its yearly budget. The actor, who played James Barton on the show, was at the centre of the…