Bowman: Soap blast knocked me over

Hollyoaks star Scarlett Bowman has revealed she was frighteningly up close to the explosion in the soap's upcoming dramatic crash scene.

The 26-year-old actress plays school bully Maddie Morrison, who is driving a mini bus when it crashes into the building where Cindy Cunningham and Tony Hutchinson are getting married, resulting in a massive explosion.

Scarlett revealed: "All the crew were put about four miles back behind cones, then the stunt double team were put about 10, 15 metres from the explosion, and then the sixth formers, including me, were the same distance as the stunt guys.

"I had to face away from this explosion and the director told me 'Don't mess up your continuity, you have to leap away from the explosion', and I said, 'Yeah, yeah don't you worry'.

"And then it explodes, and I can't see it, but I can hear this horrendous explosion, and I can feel this burning heat on my back. I just flew! I was petrified. The sound was immense."

Co-star Andrew Moss who plays Rhys Ashworth, a guest at the wedding, added: "I was one of the guys stood right back behind the cordon, just watching, and it was literally like a blow to the stomach, even from that far away.

"Everything you see was real!"

The dramatic day of the wedding unfolds in the Channel 4 soap next week, beginning on Monday November 12.