Andy Devine has compared exiting Emmerdale to leaving prison.

The 68-year-old actor bowed out of the ITV soap last month as his character Shadrach Dingle passed away.

"I suppose it’s a bit like coming out of prison, it takes a couple of weeks for the bubble to burst, he told the Manchester Evening News. "Even if you kill your wife, you only get ten years' parole."

He continued: "I thought if I'm not careful I’m going to be like the others who die on the show. I haven't been silly with my money. I've been thrifty, I suppose I thought I'll put this away for old age, then I realised hang on, this is my old age!"

Devine admitted that although he was pleased with his exit storyline, he did not enjoy filming his death scene.

"I had to go in the river, it was minging of rat pee, and they wanted me to go under for ten seconds. But then they wanted to do it again, so they dried me off just to throw me back in again," he revealed.

"But I did like my ending, because it was underplayed. Usually they just blow you up or something."

He confessed that he was happy with the decision to kill off the character, telling the paper: "I'm glad I was killed off, because otherwise I might have one of those days where I’d call my agent saying 'get me back on it'. Now, it’s very much curtain down on that."

Devine will appear in panto alongside former Corrie star Tina O'Brien later this year.
So much for him being devastated at getting the boot