“We never dreamed we’d win three times in a row!”

There was a time when Emmerdale was considered the ‘third soap’ behind rivals Eastenders and Coronation Street – but now three is a magic number for the Dales folk, as they scoop our coveted Best Soap gong for the third year in a row! With compelling stories such as Ashley’s dementia and Rhona’s rape – plus a truly remarkable stunt that saw Emma cause the most jaw-dropping car crash in soap history – it really feels as if the show is on a roll. So, when stars Zoe Henry (Rhona), Fiona Wade (Priya) and Amy Walsh (Tracy) join us to reflect on an awesome year, they can barely contain their excitement…

Emmerdale is flying high! All of you must be thrilled.

Zoe We are! I think not one of us here dreamed that we could win three times in a row. Not that we’re not working as hard as we’ve ever done, but it has to stop somewhere, and we figured tonight might be the night. But unbelievably not – the stars have aligned for Emmerdale!

The motorway crash and James Barton’s death scooped the Best Show-stopper Award as well!

Zoe I’m particularly proud of that one. At the time of filming it I don’t think I anticipated how brilliant it would look. We knew it would be pretty special and that the stunts would be off-the-scale compared to previous ones, but it wasn’t until I was watching it that I thought, ‘Wow, this is truly amazing’.

Is there a fight over who gets to take the trophies home?

Zoe Well, we’ve had to buy a cabinet for the studio! I stumbled across it one day after taking a wrong turn and thought, ‘My goodness!’. It’s pretty special.

Amy It’s big and sparkly, and takes up a whole corridor!

What is the secret of the show’s success at the moment?

Fiona The dementia storyline was particularly big for us, I think.

Amy Both my grandmas had dementia, so I would see John [Middleton, who played Ashley] at a work function and cry to him about how much he’d moved me with his performance.

I know how it feels to be on

the other side and what it would have meant to some people watching.

Do you have a message for our readers who voted for you?

Fiona Thank you so much!

Zoe And keep voting, dare we say it! Amy We don’t want to ever lose now, because it’s the best feeling. I don’t know any differently, so if I go to an awards ceremony and we don’t win something, it will be really rubbish!