The Hotten Bypass Crash

"'Who will take their last dance?'"The Hotten Bypass crash was a major storyline in Emmerdale, taking place in October 2016.

The storyline was influenced by several horror and thriller films including: Misery, Final Destination and The Big Chill.

The build-up
Prior to the crash, Emma Barton kept James Barton prisoner in a house at the farm to confront him over kissing Moira Dingle. After many prior failed attempts to escape, James knocks Emma out and makes a run for it, trying as hard as he can to escape her madness. However, Emma manages to catch up to him, and they are face by the side of the road.

The crash
Ashley forgets who his daughter Dotty is during her christening and, thinking he is late for the event thanks to a faulty digital clock, takes a drive in his Ford Focus. Unbeknownst to him, James and Emma are on a motorway bridge. As Ashley drives past, Emma accidentally pushes James, and he falls on Ashley's car causing the vehicle to crash and flip over. Pierce swerves to avoid a car and stopped his car in the middle of the road. An oncoming Mercedes truck hits Ashley's vehicle. Pierce tries to start his car but he also ends up getting hit by the truck. Pierce watches helpless as Paddy and Rhona's Vauxhall car flips over multiple times before getting hit by a Blue Volkswagen Van. Soon other vehicles are involved in the crash, including a collision between a Yellow Ford Transit and a Silver Citroen Van. As Aaron and Robert's Subaru approaches, Emma tries to warn them but Aaron crashes his car into the lake with Lachlan in the boot. Meanwhile, a Peugeot 607 smashes into a Jaguar X-Type, which in turn causes Paddy and Rhona's Vauxhall to flip over.

Ashley gets out of his car and sees everything. As Ashley looks at Emma, he is very nearly hit by a motorbike. Pierce runs to Paddy and Rhona, as he struggles to get Rhona out he eventually breaks open the door. Finn Barton arrives at the scene and finds Ashley, who again thinking he should be at his daughter's christening, later wanders off into the woods, despite Finn shouting for him to stay where he is. Underwater, Robert wakes up and attempts to wake Aaron up. Pierce panics when he finds no pulse on Rhona. Paddy who is responsive tells Pierce that he will never look at Rhona again as long as he looks after her. When Pierce is later questioned by the authorities he says nobody else is in the car which is badly damaged, but later chooses to save Paddy.

Meanwhile, Robert finally wakes up Aaron as they are still trapped underwater. They wait to get out but must wait to get the door open. Aaron discovers he is trapped under the steering wheel, Robert attempts to free him out couple of time but failed. As Aaron begs Robert to leave, Robert refuses and stays with Aaron. Aaron tells Robert that he loves him and begs him to go before slipping under the water. Robert screams in horror and refuses to give up on Aaron. Robert goes under the water to give Aaron air before making a final attempt to free him. The ambulance arrives at the scene as Laurel, Douglas Potts, Adam Barton and Victoria Barton turn up. Rhona, Paddy, Aaron and James are severely injured and taken to hospital, while Ashley collapses in the woods as his wife Laurel and her father Doug search for him. Paddy only has a few minor injuries where as Rhona is in critical condition, although she later manages to recover. Elsewhere, both Aaron and James suddenly succumb to their conditions just moments after Aaron accepts Robert's proposal, although he ends up surviving while James unfortunately goes into cardiac arrest and dies in front of his family after doctors were unable to revive him. The scene flashes forward to the funeral scene where we see Pete, Ross, Finn, Emma, Moira, Adam, Victoria, Paddy, Pierce, Rhona, Robert, Chas and Aaron stand at the scene of the coffin as Harriet finishes saying her prayer before laying James to rest; the storyline ends with a picture of James falling to the floor, signalling that he is the character who has been killed off from the show and, thus, has taken his last dance.

Aftermath
The crash and the death of James had a massive effect on Emma, who felt responsible for all the destruction that October night. This lead to her downward spiral for the rest of 2016 and even further descent into madness in 2017.

Background information
On 1 October 2016, a trailer was uploaded to the show's YouTube channel, with the keywords "Who will take their last dance?" The minute long trailer features Laurel and Ashley Thomas, Robert Sugden, Aaron Dingle, Marlon Dingle, Paddy Kirk, Rhona Goskirk, Pierce Harris, James and Emma Barton dancing in the fog. However, as they dance, a mysterious ghostly figure is among them, almost haunting them. One death is confirmed, with speculation that it could be Ashley, Robert, Aaron, or even James.

The week follows the characters in the same 24 hour time period. However, the week's first four episodes features a flash forward to the funeral for the character who dies in the week. Then, a vision is seen, Monday's is of Aaron drowning in a lake, Tuesday's is of Pierce with blood on his hands, followed by Paddy covered in blood appearing to pass out, Wednesday's is of James falling, and Thursday's is of a trapped Ashley.

Monday's episode ends with Aaron and Robert become involved of car crash with Robert's former stepson Lachlan White who Aaron kidnapped in the car boot. Tuesday's episode ends with the same involved Paddy and Rhona who chase after Pierce. Wednesday's episode ends with James and Emma face to face by the side of the road after James escape from Emma's madness.

A reporter writing for the Inside Soap Yearbook 2017 described the car crash as "stunning stuff". They later named the week as one of the "best bits of October", describing it as "one of the biggest stunts in soap history". They added that the week featured "everything you could possibly want from a soap" and named Emma pushing James from the bridge as "the big moment" of the week.