Vanessa’s BOOZY BUST-UP
Michelle Hardwick on her character’s clash with Charity after a bender goes disastrously wrong in Emmerdale
The malleable work skills of the inhabitants of soapland are very impressive. We’re used to the solicitors who are expert in all aspects of law, and the doctors and nurses who seem to work in every hospital department. But the versatility is found in many other fields too.
Coronation Street’s Toyah has just landed a job in ‘sales’ at the factory, despite having previously pursued a career as a counsellor. In fact, Underworld are very lucky with their recruitment. The local streets are lined with expert machinists, and who’d have thought former nail bar worker Alina would excel in customer services?
Any soap character with a dodgy past just so happens to also be a highly skilled mechanic. Witness
Coronation Street’s Abi Franklin, Emmerdale’s Will Taylor and Dotty Cotton in EastEnders, who all clearly have car fixing as their fallback careers in case the thieving or drug-dealing work peters out.
Emmerdale’s Kerry Wyatt, who used to fill jars at the sweet factory for a living, now cuts hair and performs beauty treatments without ever having trained to do either.
While we, in the real world, worry about our jobs, soap characters have nothing to fear. They can turn their hand to anything!
Jaci Stephens is away
Vanessa and Charity turn on each other this week as tensions rise over Vanessa’s cancer ordeal. As she starts her chemotherapy treatment, Charity is doing all she can to support her fiancée.
But according to Michelle Hardwick, who plays Vanessa, the enormity of the situation has left the couple feeling ‘scared and vulnerable’. ‘What Vanessa’s going through is huge – it’s a horrific time in her life,’ says Michelle, who’s starred as the likeable vet since 2012. ‘It’s come out of the blue and she’s no idea how it’s going to end.
‘Vanessa is struggling to come to terms with her own mortality. Charity is doing her best for her, but it can get a bit much and leads to Vanessa feeling smothered.
‘At the same time Charity is scared of losing her fiancée and it’s beyond her control. She’s scared of losing the woman she loves and she’s not able to fix it. The combination of all these factors leads to conflict.’
Trouble kicks off at the hospital after Vanessa bumps into Kerry, who last year started the fire that killed Vanessa’s father Frank. Charity flips when she sees the pair chatting, and a furious Vanessa goes out without her on a boozy night out for Rhona’s birthday.
But it’s her turn in the doghouse when she throws a drink over a man who offends her and a video of it ends up on social media. Michelle says, ‘Charity is really upset and tells Vanessa she shouldn’t have gone on a bender. She feels guilty, but you can’t blame her with everything that she’s going through.’
Meanwhile, Vanessa – who’s recently drawn up a will – makes a huge request of Charity. But will it be enough to calm their rows? Michelle, 44, says, ‘I can’t reveal what it is that Vanessa asks Charity, but I think it’s justified.
‘She’s got no idea what the future holds and needs to make sure everything she leaves behind and holds dear is taken care of. It’s sensible…’
Michelle, though, is confident Vanessa and Charity have a future – if her character survives the cancer treatment. ‘They love each other and have been through a lot – albeit nothing as big as this,’ she says. ‘I think they’ll get through whatever is thrown at them, but there will be many more bumps along the way.’
Michelle admits that she’s known her character would get cancer for almost two years, but not what kind. She says, ‘When I was eventually told it was going to be bowel cancer, it took me by surprise and I thought, “Oh wow!”
‘We need to show this can happen to a relatively young person. And it does, because a lot of the messages I’ve had on social media from people who are going through it are from younger people who are saying, “We’re so glad we’re moving away from thinking it’s an old man’s disease.”’