“My mum wants Charity to be nicer – but I love playing a badass!”
The Dales villainess is up to her neck in trouble – and that’s the way Emma Atkins wants it to stay…
She’s a terrible person in every way, but there’s something about Charity Dingle Tate Sharma Macey that’s irresistible. There are few characters in soapland who revel in being bad quite like Charity.
She loves risks, mind games, scams and everything in between, all while cracking jokes and looking fabulous.
This week, her partnership with arch-enemy Megan is under strain as their plot to ruin Frank starts to fray around the edges. But the danger just makes Charity feel more alive – and actress Emma Atkins is having a ball…
“I love my job so much!” laughs the star, who’s played Charity since 2000. “The audience likes the high-energy stuff where there are fights and rows. My mum says, ‘Can’t they make you a bit nicer?’. But I say, ‘No! I love playing a badass like Charity – bring it on’!”
It’s been interesting to see Charity lately join forces with Megan, her most despised enemy. They are united in their goal of taking down Lothario Frank, but the partnership has been a difficult one.
“I think it’s a brilliant dynamic because you’ve got hate in the mix,” Emma tells us. “Charity and Megan are contrasting characters who somehow enjoy each other’s company, even though they don’t respect one another in certain things. It’s a recipe for both fireworks and interesting TV. Megan is mainly morally upstanding, but she likes to stray to the dark side a bit, which appeals to Charity.”
However, Megan’s moral side is the issue this week, as she reconsiders her revenge on Frank. Despite his cheating antics, it’s clear Frank is committed to a future with Megan and has no idea that
“Part of Charity’s make-up is breaking the rules, but that repels a lot of men”
she’s plotting to put him back behind bars. Of course, the fact Frank rejected her for Megan is Charity’s motivation for wanting him punished. Why is she so hell-bent on hurting him?
“She can’t bear the fact that Frank and Megan have this connection,” explains Emma. “Charity knows this is where she falls short in life. She can’t seem to keep a man because she’s so steeped in needing to pull off scams. Part of her make-up is to break the rules because she loves the thrill of it. But at the same time, a lot of men are repelled by that because she’s such a conniving woman.”
It’s been a while since Charity was in a long-term relationship. Is it time for her to move on from Frank and try to find herself a new partner in crime?
“It would be nice for Charity to fall in love,” muses Emma. “She’s not had a man in some time, and it would be good to see her with somebody different. I don’t think she can have a normal relationship because she’s so flawed. I’d like her to dip her toe in and have a few flings, but Charity is a tour de force!”
It’s been great to see her female relationships take centre stage, and that includes being landlady of the Woolpack alongside cousin Chastity. Actress Lucy Pargeter, who plays Chas, is on maternity leave after having twins, so it’s been a long while since the Dingle duo were behind the bar together.
“I love running the Woolpack, but I miss the banter that Charity and Chas have, as well as the banter Lucy and I have,” shares Emma. “I can’t wait for her to get her backside back behind the bar! But I’ve been enjoying my scenes with Mark Charnock, who plays Marlon. I think Charity and Marlon are a hilarious combination because they’re so different – they don’t care what they say to one another.”
Fortunately for Emma, there’s no shortage of fantastic co-stars in the Dales, and she reckons that having a storyline with Gaynor Faye, aka Megan, has been a treat. The two are firm friends in real life, and relish their on-screen feud.
“I love working with that woman,” says Emma. “We have so much fun on and off set. We both take our work seriously, but we put fun in the mix too – it’s got to have light and shade. After all, it’s quite a dark story.”
Spare a thought for poor Frank, who has no idea that he’s the target of revenge for the village’s two most formidable women. But with the inevitable twists and turns in the story ahead, could the reluctant allies turn on each other?
“It’s an interesting dynamic – Charity is jealous of how Megan has attracted Frank,” notes Emma. “She thinks she and Frank would make a great team because devilry is in his blood too, and they connect at that level. But Megan and Frank have a real bond, and Charity needs to destroy that. It’s so awful. I think it’s time she got her comeuppance!”