Soap star in Highland drama after guide injured

EMMERDALE actor Chris Chittell – who plays Eric Pollard in the television soap – had to be rescued from a remote Scottish peninsula.

The 63-year-old actor was with another walker as they were being guided around Knoydart in the Highlands yesterday. But their guide suffered a suspected snapped Achilles tendon injury – leaving the trio stranded. Another walker came across their plight and made it to a mobile phone signal and alerted the coastguard.

The Stornoway Coastguard search and rescue helicopter airlifted the group shortly after 11am from Sourlie’s Bothy at the head of Loch Nevis on Knoydart and took them to Broadford on Skye – where an ambulance took the guide to the nearby Dr Mackinnon Memorial Hospital. His condition was unknown.

A spokesman for Stornoway Coastguard said: “Because the guide was injured, it meant all three had to be airlifted. We could not leave the walkers alone in such a remote area.”

Mr Chittell’s character, Pollard, has appeared on Emmerdale since 1986. His previous roles include The Beast in the Cellar (1970), The Raging Moon (1971), Zulu Dawn (1979) and the 1970s science fiction drama The Tomorrow People.