Former Emmerdale actor Karl Davies found himself out of his depth while filming new series Kingdom. The former Emmerdale star, who's an accomplished skier, snowboarder, parachutist and scuba diver, plays legal clerk Lyle in the Norfolk-set drama, alongside Stephen Fry. However, scenes involving the ancient Fenland tradition of dyke leaping left him cold - in more ways than one. A plucky stuntman stepped in to feature in scenes where Lyle tries to pole vault the waterway, but ends up falling in. After watching him do it, Karl decided to give it a go himself. "He did it five or six times, and got a round of applause from the rest of the cast and crew every time," explains the actor. "So when it came to the final shot of me emerging from under the water, I insisted on doing the leap myself so I could have a round of applause too! I said it would look better for the shot if I surfaced with real pond scum on my face. "But the water was disgusting, horrific. Fertiliser, sediment, soil and whatever's been on the fields in the past has settled in the bottom of this water. "About five or six showers later and I was fine!" Kingdom begins screening on ITV1 on Sunday at 9pm.
