Emmerdale’s Lisa Riley has opened up about her future on the ITV soap, following a whirlwind journey in Australia.
Last year, Lisa was part of the I’m A Celebrity cast. The actress, who plays Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale, ended up coming fifth in the competition.
Following the adventure of a lifetime, Lisa couldn’t wait to return to filming in Yorkshire. Now she’s firmly settled back into Mandy’s shoes and leopard print wardrobe, Lisa has been speaking about how much her life has changed since appearing on I’m A Celeb.
The star, who is 49, confirmed in a new chat that she’s had some new TV offers since November, but is only willing to commit to them if they work around her Emmerdale filming.
‘I’ve had some very flattering TV offers. They have been TV projects, like doing impressions like I did in Australia’, she said.
‘Hopefully, Ginge and I are going to do stuff together again, so long as it’s around my Emmerdale commitments.’
Adding to her chat with The Sun, Lisa stated how much she loves working at Emmerdale, where she’s played Mandy Dingle on and off since 1995.
‘That is where my heart lies — I love working there. I never ever take anything for granted and, as long as the Emmerdale producers want me, I want to stay. I’ve just signed a new one-year contract. If I were to take any extra things on, it would have to be around Emmerdale’, she explained.
In order to facilitate Lisa’s departure from the show to film I’m A Celeb, Mandy left the village to help Tina Dingle, who had got in trouble with the police (again).
In the time she’s been away, Mandy has been busy video calling Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt), but has no idea at the moment that he’s been keeping a lot of secrets from her.
It became apparent in January that Paddy and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) had seen Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) weeks ago, but didn’t tell anyone due to what happened when the vulnerable man returned.
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Bear, who had been working as a slave on Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths) farm for months, returned to Tenants to find Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) brutally attacking Paddy. Wanting the noise and the chaos to stop, Bear grabbed Ray and squeezed his neck, but had no idea that he was actually killing the man.
Paddy and Dylan worked to protect Bear in the aftermath of this, and hid Ray’s body in the back of a depot van. The duo have done everything with Bear’s wellbeing at the forefront of their minds, but it’s meant keeping the truth a secret from everyone – even Mandy.
So when Mandy returns in the coming days, how will she react when she learns what Paddy and Dylan have been doing?