Emmerdale STAR SANDRA MARVIN REVEALS HER PLANS FOR LIFE AFTER THE DALES
MULTI-TALENTED SANDRA MARVIN EXCLUSIVELY TELLS OK!’S KIRSTY HATCHER SHE’S LEAVING ‘EMMERDALE’ FOR EXCITING NEW PROJECTS
She may have only starred in Emmerdale for two years, but Sandra Marvin has certainly made her mark. From getting married on Christmas Day to being shot and held hostage, things have been far from quiet in the Dales for her character Jessie Grant!
But despite loving her time on the ITV soap, the actress exclusively tells OK! she’s leaving
Emmerdale. ‘As scary as it is, you have to be brave and challenge yourself sometimes,’ says the single star.
With big hair and an even bigger personality, Sandra is a laugh a minute and regularly has the OK! team in fits of giggles. So it’s no surprise that her next challenge will see her in a fun-loving role in
The Thunder Girls, a play about an ’80s girl group who reunite after 30 years. Sandra will play Carly in the hotly-anticipated show, which has already sold out its run at The Lowry.
Before Emmerdale, Sandra’s career had included starring as Motormouth Maybelle in
Hairspray in the West End, Matron Mamma Morton in Chicago and performing with Kate Bush in her 2014
Before The Dawn concerts.
Here, on our shoot at Quebecs Hotel & Luxury Apartments in Leeds,
Sandra tells OK! about leaving Emmerdale, working with Meryl Streep and Kate Bush and her plans for the future…
Why are you leaving Emmerdale? I always felt I was being pulled in so many directions, still with a love for singing and theatre. Thank God they’ve left the door open, I’m very grateful for that. Prior to Emmerdale I had quite a diverse career and I’ve done a lot of theatre, plays and musicals, and solo concerts too. As a session singer, I recorded the title song on the sound track for the Oscar-winning film Gravity with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. It’s been an amazing time on Emmerdale but I’m also excited to see what the future could hold. It was a really hard one as I love soaps and I always dreamed of being in one. I’ve had the most fantastic time.
Do you plan to return in the future?
It’s a difficult thing because you never assume you can come back, the cogs keep turning and the lives of these amazing characters carry on. But maybe, it would be lovely if I could one day. I’ve made some friends that are going to be with me for life.
Is leaving a risk? Absolutely, because you never know what’s going to happen. There are so many amazing people looking for work and it’s a tough industry, but if you don’t challenge yourself you’ll never know. My last day will be emotional. There’s definitely going to be a wobbly lip!
Do you know how Jessie will leave?
She isn’t going quietly! Her ex-husband arrives to stir things up and there will be a lot of fireworks!
Do fans approach you when you’re out?
Yes, Emmerdale fans are amazing! I had a lot of people say it’s nice to see
someone that’s curvy, and how nice it is to see themselves represented on-screen. Fans also write in asking where Jessie’s clothes are from.
Is celebrating your curves important?
It is. It can be hard nowadays with social media and other pressures, but I feel more comfortable in my own skin than I ever have done. I think, I’d love to lose a bit of weight, but then I’ll happily go and have an ice cream! As far as I’m concerned, if I wanted to be slim enough I wouldn’t have the ice cream! I’m glad I don’t feel that pressure. And Spanx are a girl’s best friend [laughs]!
Who are you closest to on Emmerdale?
I’m a girlie girl but I’ll obviously miss my sons, Jay Kontzle [who plays Billy Fletcher] and Asan N’jie [Ellis Grant], my husband Mark Charnock [Marlon Dingle] and my stepdaughter Amelia Flanagan [April Windsor]. I hang around the most with Gaynor Faye [Megan Macey], Fiona Wade [Priya Sharma] and Louisa Clein [Maya Stepney], who is very missed at work. I’m not letting them go. Me and Gaynor are both Buddhists so we also share that. Emmerdale really is such a great place to work, it’s like a big family.
How long have you practised Buddhism? I’ve meditated on and off since I was 15. It’s always something I looked to when I was struggling with anxiety or nerves. Gaynor introduced me to Buddhism in the last year and it’s a really good fit for my lifestyle and my beliefs. It’s really been a great strength to me. Have you suffered anxiety for a while? For the last ten years or so. Exercise really helps me, especially yoga, and my Buddhism. It helps me focus my mind; it answers questions and calms me.
Do you do yoga in your dressing room? No [laughs]! Nobody needs to see me in those positions when they’re dropping off costumes! After a tough scene I chant a verse and then have a very large gin and tonic!
What’s next for you?
The Thunder Girls at The Lowry Theatre in Manchester from September. People keep asking: ‘Do you want to do theatre or more TV?’ But I’d like to try everything, I’m a bit greedy! I don’t want to limit myself. I’m excited by stories that I’ve not told before. I’d also love to do something in fashion as I love Gok Wan’s shows. And I’m thrilled to be at The Curve Fashion Festival in November on the main stage talking all things fashion.
Are you excited to go back on stage?
I’m so excited and The Thunder Girls is already sold out! I sing all the time anyway, as many of my Emmerdale colleagues will testify! I sing up and down the corridors, in between takes and in the make-up room. I’m playing a completely different character from Jessie. She’s quite free, and funny as hell. [Thunder Girls writer] Melanie Blake has written a hilarious, fiery script. When I read it, I loved all the banter and the bitching, but also the friendship. It’s so fun to play a woman in her forties unashamedly talking about her body and wobbly bits. I can’t wait to meet [Sandra’s Thunder Girls co-stars] Beverley Callard and Carol Harrison, and I sat next to Coleen Nolan on the Loose Women panel a few weeks ago!
Tell us about singing with Kate Bush... She is amazing. She hadn’t done any live performances for around 25 years and her voice was as incredible as ever. She’ll always be such an inspiration to me.
You were also in the film Florence Foster
Jenkins alongside Meryl Streep…
It’s a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moment! There is a level of professionalism on set but after the scene she did come and talk to us. I was gobsmacked! She was so lovely; beautiful and enigmatic. STOCKISTS: ASOS WWW.ASOS.COM; LIQUORISH AT ASOS; TOPSHOP WWW.TOPSHOP.COM; ZARA WWW.ZARA.COM/UK.
WITH THANKS TO QUEBECS HOTEL & LUXURY APARTMENTS, LEEDS. VISIT QUEBECSHOTEL.CO.UK/HOME AND WWW. QUEBECSLUXURYAPARTMENTS.CO.UK.
SANDRA STARS IN THE SOLD OUT PLAY ADAPTATION OF MELANIE BLAKE’S BESTSELLING BOOK ‘THE THUNDER GIRLS’ AT THE LOWRY, SALFORD THIS SEPTEMBER. VISIT THETHUNDERGIRLS.CO.UK.
TWITTER.COM/KIRSTY_HATCHER PHOTOGRAPHS BY LORNA ROACH ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS BY ITV STYLING BY CHARLOTTE BURTON HAIR AND MAKE UP BY TALLY BOOKBINDER
‘i feel more comfortable in my own skin than ever’