Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
REBECCA’S NAIL-BITING EMMERDALE STUNT It’s not quite James Bond but my heart missed a beat as I hung 60ft up with no safety harness
Emmerdale’s Rebecca Sarker loves taking on daredevil stunts to impress her two sons – but she admits she was scared stiff doing the daring rope bridge stunt in last night’s show.
The actress, 46, had to hang 60ft over water before her character Manpreet Sharma must battle raging rapids in action scenes she believes are the ITV soap’s most ambitious in years.
“Viewers are going to be bowled over by the scale of the epic stunts. It might not be quite James Bond’s No Time to Die but I’m sure it’s a close second for the small screen,” says Rebecca.
“The stunts are definitely the most daring of the year if not the decade.
“Your heart can’t fail to miss a beat or two when you’re suspended with no safety harness on a Tarzan-like rope bridge with a 60ft drop below into a water-filled quarry!”
During last night’s explosive episode, Manpreet was talking with love interest Vicar Charles Anderson, played by Kevin Mathurin, when the bridge broke.
The thrilling stunt set the scene for a week-long guessing game as to who will next be murdered by Manpreet’s psychopath sister Meena.
“It’s very liberating and it has been so fulfilling to venture outside of our comfort zones,” she says of filming for this week’s “soap super survival week”.
“I was well up for the stunts and I surprised myself when I skipped on to the bridge to film our scenes.
“The bridge stunt was not only a feat of imaginative prowess but also of technical excellence.
“So complex was the set-up – it took three hours each time to reset it – that we as actors also felt a certain pressure to do the shot justice.
“It was a good pressure though, one that made you want to bring your A-game to the field.”
Rebecca hopes her antics on the soap will inspire her two sons, aged 15 and 10. “When I showed my boys photos of me doing the stunts as well as the abseil, they were quite impressed.
“It takes a lot for them to be impressed but they could see these stunts were a lot of fun.
“I do enjoy taking on challenges. I am a great believer that while it’s sensible to be risk averse, it’s good to push yourself. I like to show them that, ‘If Mummy can do it, then so can you’.”
Fitness lover Rebecca, who likes to cycle or go to the gym most days, admits there were moments when she found herself asking, “What on earth am I doing?”.
“I was scared in the rapids,” she says. “We were all decent swimmers but the force of the water was quite frightening and unpredictable.
“We were also sodden to the bone and very cold but we had a great team of experts there and hopefully our hard work will have paid off.
I can’t say too much but viewers will be on the edge of their seats this week. It culminates in several jawdropping moments both by design and by accident.
“And, of course, somebody will die this week too!” Manpreet has already survived an abseil after Meena tampered with the equipment. While Rebecca is remaining tight-lipped
about the fate of the character she has played for three years, she says the plotlines tested all the actors’ physical and mental stamina.
“We were away from home filming for six weeks,” she explains.
“That said, one isn’t offered these opportunities very often and it was a liberating feeling to be working collectively rather than filming socially distanced two-handers, which is what we’ve been doing for almost 18 months.”
Whenever she is away filming, Rebecca takes a book to read to her younger son every night on Zoom before he goes to bed.
“We connect that way,” she says. “Thankfully the boys are very understanding and it is important to show that whatever your ambitions are, you can fulfil them. They can see that I’m really happy working at Emmerdale.”
Rather than uproot the family from the home in Essex she shares with husband Rico and their sons, Rebecca commutes to the studio near Leeds.
She adds: “I am lucky as my parents live half an hour away and they are very involved with the boys. Rico also works from home and so I am able to do the commute to Emmerdale.
“Rico is incredibly understanding. He always has been my champion and we are a good team together apart from when he jokes, ‘Are you doing your acting hobby again?’.
“I especially cherish our weekends together as a family and I also love to cook family meals when I am home. It’s great for me to be able to catch up with what everyone has been doing while I’ve been away working.”
Rebecca says both sons are accomplished guitarists and are already exhibiting their creative flair through music rather than acting.
Her own love of acting came after she finished studying Spanish and French at University, which led to her living in Cadiz in southwestern Spain for a year.
It was only after finishing her degree that Rebecca went on to attend drama school. Her first big TV role came in 1999 when she landed the part of Nita Desai in Coronation Street, a character she portrayed for a year before moving on to Doctors, Holby City and The Golden Hour as well as various films and plays.
In 2018, she was offered the part of the soap’s doctor and has not looked back.
“My dad’s a retired doctor so he is pleased his daughter is finally a doctor,” she jokes.
“I love my character and there is still, if Manpreet survives Meena’s exploits, a lot of things to discover about her. There are great parts for women my age nowadays. We’re getting there and hopefully we’ll soon reach the stage where age is immaterial.”
When asked whether she is ever recognised, she says: “I look quite different off screen, especially wearing a mask. But if anyone does recognise me, then I love it..”
As for what daredevil challenge lies next for her, she says: “I am not sure but when I did the On Yer Bike challenge for ITV and UNICEF this year, I knew I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror if I got off the bike and walked up those hills!
“I want my kids to go, ‘Mummy has just ridden 60km (37 miles), so can I’.”
Emmerdale weekdays, 7pm, ITV. Extra episode airs on Thursdays, 8pm.
I like to show them if Mummy can do it, then so can they REBECCA SARKER ON WANTING TO INSPIRE SONS
Practically everyone I know doesn’t drink anymore. It’s a dying art.”
Viewers of Who Do You Think You Are? missed out on some of the more interesting details from Alan Carr’s history, due to an unfortunate camera angle.
The comedian was being filmed in a pie and mash shop in Peckham, South East London, when the mishap took place.
“This woman was wearing a strapless top, and they couldn’t use any of the footage because it looked like she was naked,” he recalls on his Life’s A Beach podcast.
“She told me so many interesting things about my family, all this amazing stuff, but you can’t do it – I’m sitting having pie and mash and she’s topless. Welcome to Peckham!”
Even Dame Joan Collins caps her drinking to a martini or a glass of wine with dinner, she tells the Guardian.
It’s been 43 years in the making, but The Nolans star Denise is finally releasing a solo album. The singer quit her sisters’ group in 1978 but her debut record – For You, My Love – will be out in February. “I actually recorded the song years ago and it’s been sitting in my vault of music at home,” says Denise, who previews her new track Every Time We Say Goodbye on tomorrow night’s episode of The Nolans Go Cruising.
“I had no intention of releasing it, but after I performed it on the cruise and saw the passengers’ reactions, I just knew I had to release it.”
The Nolans Go Cruising is on Quest Red every Wednesday at 9pm and is available to catch up on Discovery+.