‘It doesn’t feel like 20 years on Emmerdale’
Emma Atkins and Lucy Pargeter on how they choose to spend time together away from the ITV soap’s set and why working on the show feels like being in a time machine
One of the first things we notice when meeting Emmerdale co-stars Emma Atkins and Lucy Pargeter is that they couldn’t be more different to their soap characters, Charity and Chas Dingle. The two actresses are clearly very close as they share in-jokes and discuss how to manage their joint childcare for their children – Lucy, 45, has daughter Lola, 16, and twins Betsy and Missy, five, while Emma, 47, has son Albert, seven. “We’re each other’s rock,” Emma explains. “There’s an innate trust, an authenticity there. We make each other laugh and we’ve never not enjoyed working together. We’ve never fallen out. There’s a brilliant connection that you can’t put a price on.”
Emma and Lucy have played cousins in the Dales for almost 20 years and say they’re like family in real life, too. “When the cameras stop rolling our relationship is exactly the same, we know each other so well,” Lucy adds. “We feel exactly the same age as we were when we first joined. That’s why we’re quite juvenile!”
During their career, the duo have been there for each other off-screen, supporting each other with hardships and even sharing childcare as their children go to the same school.
“If we can help each other, we will. It just goes without saying when you have a friendship where you work together, spend time together and your kids go to the same school – you pull together,” explains Emma.
And it’s not just Emma and Lucy who support each other as their children also all look out for each other in the school playground.
“They know who to go to and the girls are always saying, if anything happens, they’ll go and find Albert,” says Lucy.
“Albert will come home and go, ‘I waved at Missy and Betsy today. I saw them playing and I waved and went over.’ That feels so gorgeous to hear they’re looking out for each other,” adds Emma.
It’s clear that family comes first for them both, as Emma reveals they often watch videos of Lucy’s daughters while filming the soap as it’s Lucy’s way of “keeping in touch” on set.
They are also protective of their privacy, choosing not to share details of their personal lives and family on social media.
“Our privacy is everything,” Emma says.
“When we’re out and about, the kids have no idea [that I’m known],” adds Lucy. “The young ones have no idea about what I do for a job and they don’t necessarily need to. As long as I’m providing for them, they don’t need to be a part of that madness.”
It’s clear to see why the stars would want to protect their privacy, as Lucy tells us about a “weird” time she was asked for a photo from a fan moments after she had her twins in 2017, which leaves a stunned
Emma with her hands over her mouth.
“I was being wheeled from just having a caesarean section down the hospital with my girls in my arms and somebody asked for a picture,” Lucy says. “I’d just come off the operating table with my newborn twins, looking like death and somebody asked if it was alright if they had a picture. I said, ‘Well, it’s not really appropriate,’ and he went, ‘It’s OK, I’ll just take one of you.’ That was a bit weird and inappropriate.”
However, there have been some humorous moments for Emma and Lucy while they try to navigate both their careers and personal lives.
Emma recalls, “The other day Albert was desperate for a magazine, he said, ‘Mummy, Mummy, can I get a magazine?’ As we turned the aisle, I said, ‘Just wait. Be patient.’ Eventually, we got to the aisle and he ran down and went, ‘You! It’s you, you’re there!’
“I was like, ‘Albert, shut up, it’s fine.’ There
‘We’re quite young in mindset because we still feel the same age we were when we first met’
were people looking. I know it’s part of the job but I often forget and then suddenly think, ‘Oh my goodness, that is a bit crazy.’ I didn’t even know I would be on there [a magazine] because I’m sometimes not aware of storylines because I’m too busy being a mum. You lose track.”
While Lucy adds, “The girls came out of the bath the other night and Emmerdale just happened to be on because the telly had clicked on. I said ‘Look, look, that’s Mummy’s work’ and they went, ‘Oh no, not this! Can we watch something else?’”
It’s clear that Emma and Lucy are loyal to their on-screen Dingle family as they are both still close to their former co-stars Charley Webb and Danny Miller, who played Charity’s daughter Debbie and Chas’s son Aaron respectively.
Emma, who likens Charley to a “mother figure” despite the fact she’s 13 years younger than her, says they live round the corner from each other and their children are “inseparable” – Charley has sons Buster, Bowie and Ace with fellow Emmerdale star Matthew Wolfenden.
Speaking of her friendship with Charley, Emma says, “She’s very organised and to think she’s 13 years younger, she’s often got a maternal instinct with me. We’ve got a really lovely friendship, to be honest.
“We used to have a lot of emotional scenes together, being mother and daughter. I do miss that. There was, again, a lot of authenticity to it because of our history as friends. I took her under my wing when she joined the show at 14 and I think she looked up to me – I felt honoured that I was bonding with this young girl who felt like she could come to me for advice and stuff. It’s quite a unique friendship in that way.”
Lucy adds, “Charley Webb I see more out of work than I did in work anyway, so she’s still very much a part of our lives.
“Danny, I miss him all the time. I miss his phone calls on the M62 going, ‘Can you just tell them I’m going to be 15 minutes late because the traffic is really bad.’ I just miss him. We were very much kind of like, not a mother and son relationship, but we always had that closeness if he was ever in trouble or if anything was happening, he used to call for a bit of advice. He’s got his wedding coming up, so I’ve been given the day off work to go to his wedding!”
Lucy jokes she’ll be like a “proud mum” watching her on-screen son tie the knot to fiancée Steph Jones. This isn’t the first Dingle star to get married, as Lucy and Emma both went to Charley’s surprise wedding to Matthew in 2018, which guests thought was her 30th birthday party.
Emma says, “I was gutted because I didn’t look that great and she [Charley] said, ‘Make sure you come looking great.’ I was like, ‘Alright, it’s only a 30th!’ Well, when I turned out to be one of the bridesmaids… I was like, ‘This dress should have been a better dress!’ and Charley went, ‘Well, I did tell you!’”
And the cast will be having even more celebrations as Lucy, who jokes it’s like a “party every weekend” with her co-stars, is set to celebrate her 20th Emmerdale anniversary in October, which also ties into the ITV soap’s 50th celebrations.
“Twenty years! I don’t know where it’s gone to be quite honest with you,” Lucy admits. “Once you get in [Emmerdale], it’ll always feel like you’re the new girl. It’s like a little time capsule or a time machine. As a group of friends, we’re quite young in mindset because we all still feel the same age we were when we first met and joined. I’ve managed to pack a lot into the show and been given some amazing opportunities during those 20 years, but it really doesn’t feel like 20 years.”
Lucy, who auditioned for the role of Emma’s character, Charity, before landing Chas in 2002, adds, “I’ve got nothing planned. I think the 50th will be like a celebration in itself, so I don’t know. I probably should have a party, but we all get together all the time anyway, so it’s like a party every weekend.”
The pair have filmed the majority of their Emmerdale scenes over the years at The Woolpack, and they can’t wait to share some behind-the-scenes secrets. Emma reveals that the snacks in the village pub “are always just the right kind of thing you’re craving at that moment”.
“But they stopped them!” Lucy adds.
“We used to have real crisps and real nuts, but I think we cost the company so much money because we were handing out crisps all the time – so they’re not real now.”
Lucy has been involved in several hard-hitting storylines over the years, but she admits her most challenging scenes to date were in 2018, when Chas’s daughter Grace died shortly after she was born.
“It was a very, very difficult one,” Lucy says. “I’d only just had the girls [her twin daughters], so knowing the joy that I’d had from them and then understanding the loss people go through when they lose a child was juxtaposed in my head, really. That storyline was rewarding, but extremely heartbreaking to do.”