Blaze of glory
Departing Emmerdale actress Fiona on the gripping final plot for Priya with a fire which ensures her 11-year stint doesn’t fizzle out
EMMERDALE favourite Fiona Wade has called quitting the soap “one of the hardest decisions” she’s ever made. The 43-year-old from London has played Priya Kotecha for more than a decade.
Filming her last scenes – to be shown this week from tonight for the Yorkshire Dales soap – was just as tough.
She said: “I have been at Emmerdale for 11 years and it was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make.
“Leaving my Emmerdale family is a big thing and it wasn’t easy filming my last scenes.
“When you’ve been somewhere for that long and that’s your every day, it’s hard and feels sad. But as every actor knows, you need to challenge yourself and that’s very important too.”
Fiona began her career in the 90s as Joanna Day in Grange Hill and went on to become a jobbing actor in Doctors, Holby City, Casualty and Silent Witness, before getting two episodes in Coronation Street as Sandeesh in the same year she began in Emmerdale as Priya.
Fiona also met her husband Simon Cotton on the soap. He had joined Emmerdale in 2017 to play Home Farm Estate client Hugh Bryant for a short period and, after filming a scene together, went for dinner.
Fiona said: “I can’t not mention the fact that Emmerdale brought me my husband. I met him there and that’s very special. That has been the greatest gift.”
This week’s exit storyline has been kept under wraps but Priya will be haunted by the 2021 maze fire which left her with bad burns and also to deal with her daughter Amba being kidnapped by her ex, David.
It sounds like a dramatic exit – especially compared with her first day on set which was less action and more laughter.
She said: “I remember it so well. My first scene was at Holdgate and I was looking through and knocking on the window in the kitchen.
“They had to put me on a box because I couldn’t reach the window. I was with Chris Bisson, Basker Patel, Trudy Goodwin and Emma Atkins.”
Chris, who plays Jai Sharma, was there for her at the end of her time in Emmerdale – organising her leaving do.
Fiona added: “I had a fabulous drinks party which Rebecca Sarker and Chris Bisson helped organise and I got some gorgeous gifts.
“It was amazing to have so many of my wonderful friends from the cast and crew join me. I have met friends for life at Emmerdale and I’ll be keeping in touch for sure.
“We’ve been on a journey together and there are some very special people who will be my friends forever.”
We don’t know yet if the door will remain open for Priya. And while Fiona is ready to see what else is out there for her she describes working on the soap as a “gift of a job”. Emmerdale is often described by actors as a family, possibly because of its location at the purpose-built set on Harewood House Estate near Leeds and Harrogate, which doubles up for the fictional town of Hotton. Fiona said: “There are so many blessings that come your way when you’re in a show like Emmerdale. “To be given a character that you can make yours, to have fantastic writers that enable you to grow in this amazing character. “Plus, the friends you make and the experiences you have is invaluable.” Fiona has two favourite storylines for Priya. The first is
the eating disorder her character suffered in 2014 while she was pregnant with Amba, which arose again in 2016 and in 2021 in the aftermath of one of Emmerdale’s great set piece dramas – the Maize Maze fire.
The latter was Fiona’s other top Emmerdale moment – even kissing Cain Dingle didn’t come close – and it left Priya with burn scars that caused her to feel insecure again about her body.
She said: “I’ve had so many wonderful storylines – the eating disorder and the accident in the fire. They’ve all been incredibly rewarding to play and it’s really hard to pick one because they’ve also been quite emotional.
“I can’t pick a favourite but the eating disorder one was complex and ongoing and was so interesting to research.
“Getting to play someone who is that sassy and cool and glamorous but also has all of these complexities and layers to her which make the character so much more interesting and relatable.”
Priya couldn’t just say her goodbyes and head for a new life in a taxi – there had to be some drama. This week’s last episodes will see her past trauma at being trapped by crazed killer Meena Jutla (Paige Sadhu) in the maze come back to haunt her.
While visiting wedding planning business Take A Vow, a veil catches fire and Priya gets PTSD remembering the burn injuries she got. Fiona told how Priya feels in tonight’s episode: “It’s hugely triggering. She feels it is a major setback. She freezes and has a breakdown which takes her by surprise because she feels she’s done so much work on herself after what happened.”
But Take a Vow client Justin, who had offered Priya’s boss Leyla Cavanagh (Roxy Shahidi) a job with his London team, spots her potential and offers her the job instead.
The week goes from bad to good to bad again for Priya when ex David (Matthew Wolfenden), Amba’s dad, learns she is going to take the youngster with her. He kidnaps Amba and, although Leyla tracks him down to a cottage, he then locks her in a bathoom to stop her calling the police. Fiona won’t reveal any more about how she exits the village but leaves with memories she will treasure. She said: “My best memories are playing this incredible part every day, wearing the amazing costumes and getting to be so glamorous.”
● Emmerdale is on Monday to Friday, STV.
there are so many blessings that come your way when working on a show like emmerdale