Lydia arrested!
She’s shocked to be wrongly accused of running a pension scam
The soap police are at it again, arresting innocent folk based on flimsy, circumstantial evidence. How the coppers on 24 Hours in
Police Custody must howl.
Lydia Dingle is the latest victim; the harmless cleaner gets carted off to the nick this week, accused of orchestrating a pension scam!
The bizarre turn of events comes just as Lyds thinks life is on the up. Charity has paid off the debt Paul left her in and Mandy persuades her to apply for a job as a school counsellor.
Lydia decides to go for it, and does a Zoom interview at the cafe – which is an odd venue to choose, but does mean the writers can squeeze in some gags about nosy Nicola. She’s puzzled when her computer is bombarded with popups, but keeps calm and carries on.
‘Though she’s qualified and did counselling for years, this job is a massive step up, and Lydia has a bit of imposter syndrome,’ says Karen Blick, who plays her.
‘But she says to Nicola, “Did I sound really awkward?” and Nicola says “No, you sounded quite intelligent, surprisingly enough,” so she feels quite positive.’
Then disaster strikes. A copper turns up with Sam, after initially trying to find Lydia at Wishing Well, and arrests her for the ruthless racket.
‘The police have traced the scam back to Lydia’s laptop,’ adds Karen. ‘She’s completely bemused.’
Lydia’s questioned at the station and, thanks to Nicola, everyone else soon knows about the accusation.
Her loved ones are confident she’ll clear her name... but is
Lyds set to become a ‘proper’
Dingle and go to prison?