Dales Vanessa is back.. after a pregnant pause
Actress took time out to have son Teddy
I know she’s grown up so she’s not as lairy, but I’d love to see her having fun MICHELLE HARDWICK ACTRESS ON SOAP CHARACTER
I’d never worked under the restrictions, so it was very different and I had to adjust to things such as doing my own hair and make-up. But after a couple of days it was as if I’d never been away.”
While she was off, Michelle got many comments on social media from fans asking when Vanessa would be returning to the Dales.
She said: “I just had to ignore them. I felt a bit bad but I didn’t want to say, ‘Yes, I’m coming back on this date’, as nothing had been confirmed.
“It is nice to see that Vanessa has been missed while she’s been away from the village, so I think there will be a few pleased people when they find out she’s back.”
When viewers last saw her, Vanessa had been diagnosed with bowel cancer and decided to go to Scotland to stay with her mum, who had suffered a bad fall. She left behind fiancée Charity, who later ended up with Mackenzie before splitting up from Vanessa.
Michelle said she isn’t sure if she would like to see Vanessa reunite with her old flame. “I think it’s good for characters to mix with different people.
“It keeps your character fresh and exciting.
“But who knows if they will get back together. Watch this space.”
Emmerdale is on a high, with ratings of three million viewers on Christmas Day, beating BBC rival EastEnders’ 2.9million. After the cancer storyline, which involved Vanessa having surgery to remove a tumour, as well as chemo, fans will be glad she has had the all-clear. And Michelle’s pregnancy may have even saved Vanessa from being killed off. Michelle said: “We weren’t able to finish the storyline in the way we may have wanted to.”
Michelle said Vanessa has come through the illness a changed woman. She said: “She has toughened up. She no longer suffers fools.
“Vanessa has no time for slackers, there’s a lot of finger-wagging and her telling off other characters at work, which has been quite fun to play.”
But Michelle admitted she misses playing the “party girl” Vanessa of the early days. She said: “I’d like the Vanessa we had nine years ago back in the village.
“I know she’s grown up, and she’s got a son now so she’s not as lairy and a party girl like she used to be but I’d love to see her back having fun, dating and having girlfriends and mainly enjoying herself.”
As much as she enjoys being back at work, Michelle fears it might mean she gets abuse from trolls, who have targeted her in the past for being LGBTQ+, some comments being so bad she called in the police.
She said: “I think once I’m back on screen and back in people’s minds again, I might get trolled. I try to ignore it. If it’s too much I do call them out.”
Soon after Teddy was born, the country went into the second lockdown, meaning Michelle had to hold her son at the window so visitors could see him. When restrictions allowed, her close friends from the show, including Amy Walsh, 34, who plays Vanessa’s half-sister Tracy Metcalfe, Laura Norton, 38, who plays Kerry Wyatt, and Fiona Wade, who stars as Priya Sharma, 42, came to visit.
Michelle said: “It was really nice to see them. The four of us are such good friends out of work.”
Michelle has also been on hand to give pregnant Amy advice.
Michelle says: “I’ve been chatting to her on the phone as she’s getting close. Laura was pregnant at the same time as me, which was wonderful. We’d also recommend things to each other and we’ve both done the same for Amy.”