A CINDERELLA story

LISA RILEY on Mandy and Paddy's second chance at happiness

- ALISON SLADE

EMMERDALE

MONDAY-GOOD FRIDAY, 7.30PM, ITV1 SOAP

There's a touch of fairy-tale magic in the Dales this week when, 25 years after he first asked her to marry him, vet Paddy Kirk gets down on one knee and proposes to Mandy Dingle. Paying homage to the original proposal in March 1999, the writers have cleverly incorporated elements of Cinderella into the storyline.

Here, in an exclusive interview, Emmerdale star Lisa Riley, 47, gives us her take on proceedings...

What do you recall of Paddy's first proposal?

The truth is that Dominic Brunt [who plays Paddy] and I talk about it all the time. I think that's probably why the producers and the writers wanted to emulate the 1999 proposal, because it's one of those moments in soap history.

I remember us being like Romeo and Juliet, with Mandy upstairs and Paddy downstairs in what is now Pollard's shop, which was Mandy's boutique back in the day. All those memories came flooding back.

So what can we expect 25 years on?

Mandy and Paddy have always had their Cinderella moments, and what's so wonderful about this week is that all these little moments are dropped in, which take you back to 1999.

In the first proposal, Mandy didn't lose her shoe like Cinderella; she lost her sparkly earring at a vets' ball]. This time, she puts her lucky earrings in. The dress she wears is a similar colour to the one Mandy wore at the ball; we didn't want to copy it identically. And there are other things when Amelia Spencer [Daisy Campbell gives her a makeover, she says, 'You shall go to the ball.' And when Mandy sees Paddy in his suit, she says, 'You've always been my Prince Charming."

Tell us about Mandy's transformation...