Ferocious blaze engulfs Emmerdale

A ferocious blaze is to engulf 'Emmerdale' tonight (05.01.11).

Many of the soap's most-loved characters will be left fighting for their lives after a mystery arsonist sets Victoria Cottage alight, with Katie Sugden (Sammy Winward), Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) and Gennie Walker (Sian Reese-Williams) trapped inside.

As soon as Andy Sugden hears his beloved Katie is locked in the burning inferno he immediately becomes the hero of the hour, and dives into the building in the hope of saving the blonde beauty.

Kelvin Fletcher - who plays Andy in the ITV1 soap - said: "Andy's at home with Ryan (James Sutton) when he spots the flames coming from Katie's cottage. He yells for Ryan to call 999 straight away and runs outside to join Carl (Tom Lister).

"Andy's been here before. His mum, Sarah, was killed in a terrible fire on the farm. But he doesn't have time to think about the past. His instinctive reaction is to get involved and be a hero - so he dives into the flames to save his beloved Katie."

However, with Andy being openly hostile towards Katie prior to the blaze after finding out she had secretly been seeing police detective Nick Henshall (Michael McKell), fingers quickly point to him as prime suspect for starting the blaze.

Kelvin added to Inside Soap magazine: "It could all have been Andy. The last time he sees Katie before the fire, he's really hurt and angry - and when Andy's angry, he always does things he wouldn't normally do."