The following article contains spoilers from an episode of Emmerdale that hasn’t aired on ITV1 yet, but can be viewed on ITVX.

Emmerdale’s Lawrence Robb has spoken out for the first time about his character surviving a deadly attack.

Lawrence’s soap alter ego Mackenzie Boyd was hit with a bow and arrow by John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) in August. The last we saw of the character, Mack was begging for his life, but John told him there was no way he’d be able to let him go.

He then grabbed a huge boulder and threw it down onto Mack, making it look as though that was the moment he killed him.

In soapland lore though, a character is only dead once we’ve seen there body. As a result of this, fans of the ITV soap spent just over a week convinced that Mack was still alive somewhere.

On Friday, John was once again seen sneaking about in the woods near the cottage. When he returned, Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) had made a major discovery about the room behind the locked door.

Aaron was standing in John’s childhood bedroom. He was, understandably, taken aback that John had told a huge lie to him, but the local medic was able to manipulate his husband so he failed to think too much about it.

Soon enough, Aaron was agreeing to John’s idea about moving into the cottage permanently.

Just before the instalment ended, John was moving some leaves on the woodland floor.

He then opened a door to an underground bunker and inside was Mackenzie.

John moved the blanket from his face and Mack grumbled, allowing us to get confirmation he was alive – but only just.

Keeping Mack’s fate a secret was quite the task for Lawrence. As much as he liked the mystery, he is glad the truth is out now!

The star explained: ‘I’m glad the secret that Mack isn’t quite dead (yet) is over. I have felt slightly deceitful over the last two weeks when people have asked me about his death.

‘While I have enjoyed being somewhat of an enigma over that time, I’m really looking forward to seeing how the drama we shot is received on screen.

He added: ‘Both Ollie and I really enjoyed shooting it, so hopefully the jeopardy of Mack’s position will keep the audience gripped!’.

Tonight’s episode of the ITV soap, which can be viewed on ITVX, opens with Mackenzie waking up after being drugged by John.

Viewing the bunker for the first time, along with the person who put him there, leaves Mack in a complete panic. He’s urged to calm down by John, who points out that he can’t afford to use all of his energy up at once